Clash of Queens
by Count Morningstar
Summary: A sequel to The Gold Swordsman. About a month after the Donis incident, Asuna enters a tournament known as Clash of Queens to get back at a mysterious player who trashed Yuuki's memory. Before the start of the tournament though, Asuna ends up fighting a legendary monster of the deep. Rated M for later steamy scenes.
1. Dream at Death's Door

**Introduction:** As the summary for this story said, this is a sequel to an earlier SAO fanfic I did called _The Gold Swordsman_. If you haven't read that story before, I suggest you go back and read it now because you might get a little lost otherwise. When I wrote _The Gold Swordsman_ last winter, I did it as a kind of side project to deal with some stress that I was feeling at the end of this online class I was taken. The reason for doing this sequel to it now is because I just wanted to write something that wasn't a Pokemon or a Yu-Gi-Oh! fanfic, which seem to be the only stories I ever write these days. I know that _The Gold Swordsman_ wasn't my best work, and this story probably won't be much better. But I do hope that those of you reading will enjoy the chapters that are to come.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Sword Art Online, nor do I own the works of H.P. Lovecraft.

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Chapter 1: Dream at Death's Door

It was fairly late in the afternoon as Asuna flew through the skies of ALO with her friend and fellow undine player, Siune. The two of them had just finished a minor quest involving a giant serpent living in the center of a swamp and had decided to unwind at this tavern in imp territory that they had discovered a few weeks back. After a twenty-minute flight, the two blunettes landed in the small imp village and went straight to the tavern. When the arrived, the place was packed with other players of many different fairy races. Despite how crowded the place was, Asuna and Siune were still able to find a small table near the bar where they could sit down.

"That swamp quest was a lot harder than I thought it'd be." Asuna declared as the two of them sat down.

"No kidding." Siune agreed. "It's a shame we couldn't get anyone else to come with us."

"It couldn't really be helped." Asuna replied. "Kirito's away at that big technology conference and all the others were busy."

"Still, we ended up doing pretty well with just the two of us, didn't we?" Siune pointed out.

"We sure did. And I think that with the way things have been going for me these past few weeks, I really needed to thrash a monster." Asuna admitted.

"That's right. You've been under a bit of pressure at school, haven't you?" Siune recalled.

"Yeah. It's been murder studying for those exams." Asuna replied. "And the added pressure my mom puts on me doesn't help at all."

"Well, your exams are done now. So now you can relax for a little while." Siune pointed out.

"And that's just what I plan to do." Asuna declared. "Of course now the question is, what should we do next here in ALO?"

"Well… you could enter that big tournament that's coming up here soon." Siune suggested. "You know, that tournament they're calling Clash of Queens?"

"Clash of Queens?" Asuna repeated with a raised eyebrow. "This is the first I'm hearing about it."

"Oh that's right. You haven't really logged in for the past week because your exams." Siune realized. "Clash of Queens is this tournament the admins are throwing to decide the top female player of ALO. The word is that the winner will be named, Queen of the Fairies. Her avatar will also get used for the cover of VRMMO Monthly. It's become a pretty big deal."

"Are you entering the tournament?" Asuna asked.

"Me?" Siune responded with a slight laugh. "I suppose I could, but I don't think I'd have what it takes to compete. I certainly wouldn't have what it takes to stand against someone like you."

"Well, this tournament sounds pretty interesting." Asuna admitted. "But I'm not sure if I want to get involved in something that competitive right now. Besides, I've technically been Queen of the Fairies already, and it's not all it's cracked up to be."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Siune asked.

"I'll… tell you about that some other time." Asuna answered as her expression darkened. "It's actually something that I don't even like to think about."

"I see…" Siune replied. "Well, whatever you decide, I'm sure that you'd come out on top in the tournament. Besides Yuuki, you're probably the best woman player in this game."

"Yeah… I'm sure that Yuuki would've been able to win a big tournament like this one." Asuna agreed, recalling the memory of their dead friend. "She really was the strongest player in this game. Not even Kirito could beat her, even though he came really close once."

"You two wouldn't happen to be talking about the girl they once called Zekken, would you?" a voice suddenly interrupted. "That girl was such an overrated hack."

Asuna and Siune looked in the direction the voice game and saw a woman sitting at the bar near them and sipping from a metal beer stein. She was an imp player with long silvery white hair that grew half way down her back. Her pale skin had a purplish quality to it like most other imps, and she had orange almost cat-like eyes. Covering the woman's forehead was a sort of tiara that was made of an odd black metal and had a red diamond-shaped gem in the center. Her outfit consisted of a sleeveless black shirt with silver armor covering her somewhat large chest, along with elbow-high fingerless gloves, a short purple skirt with a red sash acting as a belt, and a pair of black knee-high boots. Hanging from the woman's waist was a black rapier.

"What did you just say about Yuuki?" Siune asked.

"I said she was a hack." The woman repeated. "I've heard a lot of talk about how strong she was, but frankly her abilities seem overrated to me. Then there was the way she and that small guild of hers swooped in and supposedly defeated that boss on New Aincrad. I don't know what sort of dirty tricks this Yuuki and her little friends used, but there's no way they could've defeated that boss in a legitimate fight. I'm sure even that sword skill of Yuuki's what do they call it… the Mother's Rosario? That was probably some kind of cheat too."

"You have no idea what you're talking about!" an outraged Siune told the woman. "Just who are you anyway?"

"The name's Nytokris." The silver-haired woman answered indifferently. "And I don't see why you're getting so bent out of shape about what I just said. Unless…" Nytorkis began to chuckle. "Wait, don't tell me. You were part of that pathetic little guild, weren't you? What's the matter? Don't want anyone else to know how you and your little friends cheated? If you ask me, you should all be ashamed of yourselves."

Suddenly Asuna rose from her chair and walked up to Nytokris. "Take it back! Everything that you just said!"

"And what if I don't?" Nytokris asked.

Asuna put her hand on her rapier. "Then I'm going to have to make you."

Nytokris chuckled again and took another swig from her beer stein. "Okay. Why don't we take this outside?"

With that, Asuna followed Nytokris out of the tavern with Siune following close behind. The other patrons in the tavern who had seen the heated exchange between Nytokris and Asuna soon drifted out after them to see the duel that was about to unfold. As Asuna and Nytokris stood across from each other in the middle of the street, a massive crowd had already formed to watch them.

"Let's keep this duel on the ground, shall we?" Nytokris suggested as she brought up her menu screen. "Aerial sword fights always tend to get a little out of control. Plus it's harder for the audience watching to follow everything that goes on. I want all these people to get a good hard look at how I'm about to take you down."

"Fine with me!" Asuna agreed. "Only you're the one who's going to get taken down!"

The screen showing Nytokris' challenge to Asuna appeared in front of the blunette. Asuna pressed the button to accept the challenge, and a timer appeared in the air above them as the two of them drew their swords. When the timer hit zero the two fencers charged towards one another across the battlefield and their swords hit each other with a loud clash. Asuna managed to force Nytokris back, but the silver-haired imp was somehow parrying all over blows. It was proving impossible for Asuna to take a single point off of Nytokris' HP gauge.

Eventually Nytokris was backed against the circle of spectators and was forced to break away and head for the other side of the circle. Asuna quickly chased after her, and once at the other side of the ring the two of them began to clash blades once again. This time it was Asuna who was being forced back. Not only was it proving impossible for the blunette to land a blow, it was taking everything that she had to block Nytokris' attacks. Suddenly Asuna spotted what finally looked like an opening, but just as she was able to strike Nytokris suddenly seemed to disappear. The silver-haired imp reappeared behind Asuna and struck her eleven times in the back with her sword in a circular pattern, followed by two slashes that formed an X. A stunned Asuna staggered forward a step as her HP dropped to zero in an instant.

"That was my own unique sword skill, Queen's Punisher." Nytokris revealed as she sheathed her sword. "It's far more powerful than the sword skill used by your friend, Zekken. Only unlike her, I didn't have to cheat to develop it."

Asuna's body then became a floating ball of blue flames that was her remain light. From Asuna's perspective, everything had turned grey and a digital timer appeared before her eyes to tick away the seconds before her light would go out. As Asuna waited for the end of the timer where her amusphere would automatically log her out of the game, the grey surroundings suddenly had another landscape overlapped over them. All around Asuna had formed a strange alien city with gigantic buildings made of a slimy black stone, and the architecture of the city was somehow distorted; as if the buildings and masonry around her didn't have the angles that they were supposed to.

A massive door on the gigantic building in front of Asuna suddenly opened up, though she couldn't quite tell if the door was standing straight up or was slanted like a cellar door. A dark and seemingly endless abyss yawned out from the doorway before Asuna, and within that darkness suddenly appeared what looked to be a pair of giant demonic headlights. At that point, Asuna heard a deep and slimy voice that spoke a single phrase.

 _"Cthulhu fhtagn!"_

Suddenly a brilliant white light enveloped everything in the city. When the light cleared, Asuna was back in the village and her HP gauge was back at a hundred percent. Siune was standing in front of Asuna with a relieved smile on her face.

"Good thing I had that extra revival item, huh?" Siune spoke.

"You held out longer than I thought." Nytokris remarked, getting Asuna's attention. "But in the end, you were just as worthless as Zekken."

"You take that back!" Asuna ordered.

Nytokris chuckled. "I'll consider it, if you beat me in battle that is."

"Then let's go again!" Asuna told her.

"Nah. I'm done for today." Nytokris replied as she waved her off. "But if you really want to fight me to teach me a lesson, then enter the Clash of Queens tournament. I'll be glad to take you on there."

With that, Nytokris' purple transparent wings appeared on her back and she took off into the sky. The spectators that had assembled to watch the duel quickly dispersed; some of them going back into the tavern while others either flew off or walked away to another part of town. Asuna and Siune remained where they were in the middle of the road.

"…You okay?" Siune asked.

"I'll be fine. I just need a little time alone." Asuna answered. "Why don't we meet back up later IRL at Agil's place? We can talk about what just happened then."

"Okay." Siune agreed. "Um, do you mind if I bring Klein along? We already kinda had some plans."

"Klein?" Asuna repeated as she blinked in surprise. "Uh… sure. That's fine. I mostly want to go to Agil's so I can tell him about… this thing I just saw."

"What thing is that?" Siune asked with a raised eyebrow.

"…Not now. I'll tell you about it at Agil's." Asuna answered.

"Okay then." Siune replied. "I'm going to go ahead and log out. See you later tonight."

Siune then brought up her menu screen and vanished with a flash of blue light as she logged out of the game. Soon after, Asuna took back off into the air and was out of the village. Several minutes later, the blunette had arrived at the little cabin in New Aincrad that she shared with Kirito. Once Asuna was safely inside, Asuna brought up her menu and changed out of her normal battle outfit. Appearing in her armor's place with a flash of blue light was a light blue t-shirt that was only a shade lighter than her hair and a pair of black shorts with dark-blue trim.

As Asuna went to prepare herself a pot of virtual tea, she couldn't help but think about her encounter with Nytokris. Losing to a player like Nytokris stung, but not as badly as the way the silver-haired imp had trashed Yuuki. That was something that Asuna couldn't stand. Though they only knew each other for a few months, Yuuki had become like a sister to Asuna. Yuuki was the strongest person that Asuna had ever known, even though a horrible incurable disease had ravaged her body and took her life. It was through knowing Yuuki that Asuna had been able to become stronger, both in ALO and in the real world. So it was unacceptable to Asuna for anyone to call Yuuki a cheater.

With the tea ready, Asuna went back to the living room of the cabin, placed the pot on the coffee table, poured herself a cup and then put her legs up on the couch. As the blunette sipped the virtual liquid from her cup, Asuna decided to try and take her mind off of what happened by going through her item storage to see if there was anything she could delete to clear some space. Asuna scrolled down the list of items carefully, occasionally deleting a few very common items that she was fairly certain she didn't need. Then at the very bottom of the list, Asuna found an item with the name, _Johansen's Journal_. Asuna found it very strange to find such an item in her inventory, as she knew that there was never anything in there like it before.

Curious, Asuna set her teacup on the coffee table and clicked on the item. Materializing in Asuna lap with a flash of blue light was some sort of logbook bound in black leather. Asuna began to look through the book and found several entries scrawled in a shaky hand. The entries told the story of a doomed sea voyage commanded by a captain with the name, Johansen. According to the log, after Johansen's crew had survived an encounter with a group of pirates, they had come upon some sort ancient stone city in the middle of the ocean. Johansen's crew had come ashore on the city and had encountered some sort of gigantic monster. Just what the monster was, Asuna couldn't tell from the log.

The entries that described the creature were almost completely illegible, as if it was too hard on Johansen's nerves to tell what the monster looked like. Whatever the monster was though, it had apparently destroyed almost all of Johansen's crew. Only the log's author and one other crewman had managed to make it back to the ship and escape out to sea. During the voyage though, that final crewman that had escaped with Johansen had died from some extreme case of shock. The logbook ended with Johansen telling how his ship managed to make it back to a seaport called Innsmouth, and even included a detailed set of directions that told how to find the port in question. The very last entry in the book revealed that Johansen had left a key to finding the ancient city somewhere in Innsmouth, but strenuously warned the reader that the city should be avoided at all costs.

Asuna shut the book and thought long and hard about what she had just read. She wondered if perhaps the book was somehow connected to the nightmare vision she had experienced earlier has her remain light burned away to nothing. Asuna then remembered how she heard the word, Cthulhu in her vision and realized that both the vision and the logbook were connected to the well-known Cthulhu Mythos. Many strange things had been showing up in ALO since the game's creators had decided to phase in elements from H.P. Lovecraft's famous writings. After pondering the log for several more minutes, Asuna finally decided on two things. She was going to enter the Clash of Queens tournament to make Nytokris pay for what she said about Yuuki, but before that Asuna and a few of her friends were going to find out about this city out at sea that _Johansen's Journal_ talked about.

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Please review and let me know what you think.


	2. The City of R'lyeh

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Sword Art Online, nor do I own the works of H.P. Lovecraft.

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Chapter 2: The City of R'lyeh

It was just before 7:00 at night as Asuna headed for the real world bar known as the Dicey Café. The bar had become a regular hangout for the survivors of the infamous VRMMO death game known as Sword Art Online. Tending the bar when Asuna walked in was the establishment's owner, a bald dark-skinned man who Asuna knew in SAO and ALO as Agil, but in the real world was known as Andrew Gilbert Mills. There were also two customers sitting at the bar. One was a brown-haired scruffy-looking man wearing a headband that Asuna knew as Klein in the virtual world, but went by the name Ryoutarou Tsuboi in real life. The other customer at the bar was a fairly young spectacled woman with very short dark hair who Asuna knew as Siune's real world counterpart, An Si-eun. It was the first time that Asuna had seen Si-eun without the wig that she wore due to the cancer treatments she had previously undergone.

"Sorry I'm a little late, everyone." Asuna told the others as she took a seat at the bar.

"It's no problem." Andrew assured her as he polished an empty beer mug. "You were the one who called this little meeting, after all."

"Si-eun just told us a little bit about what happened between you and woman, Nytokris." Ryoutarou revealed.

"Are you doing okay now, Asuna?" Si-eun asked.

"I'm fine." Asuna assured them. "But I'll feel better once I make Nytokris pay for what she said. That's why I've already entered that tournament."

"Well… I hate to tell you this, but just because you've entered the Clash of Queens tournament, doesn't mean you'll actually get to compete." Andrew revealed. "The word is that almost every gal playing ALO has entered this thing, but only the top thirty-two players will qualify to actually play. Everyone who's entered has to go through a four-day qualifying period first."

"So how are the players supposed to qualify for this thing?" Ryoutarou asked.

"The admins assign a certain number of points to each player hoping to take part in the tournament during the qualifying period." Andrew explained. "These points are given out based on things like the quests that players successfully complete, the number of monsters they successfully take down, and even the number of other players they defeat in a battle."

"So what you're saying is, if I want to have a shot at qualifying for the tournament, I should complete some major quest here in the next few days." Asuna realized.

Andrew nodded. "Or beat some powerful monster like one of the bosses in New Aincrad. The thing is though that only the admins know how many points each player earns, so there's no real way to tell if the quest you decide to take on will really earn you enough to qualify."

"So what sort of quest should Asuna take on?" Si-eun asked.

"Actually… I have an idea about that." Asuna revealed. "Something strange happened to me after Nytokris beat me. As my remain light burned away, the village Si-eun and I were in was replaced with this weird city. Right before I was revived I saw the eyes of this big monster. Then later as I was going through my item storage, I found this weird logbook in my inventory. It talked about this sea captain who came across this city inhabited by a monster that killed his whole crew."

Andre held his chin in thought. "From the sound of it, you probably had a vision about R'lyeh."

"R'lyeh?" Ryoutarou repeated with a raised eyebrow. "What the heck is that?"

"It's the city that's supposed to be the home of Cthulhu." Andrew answered. "The most famous monster created by H.P. Lovecraft."

"Man! Things have just been a little weird ever since this Lovecraft stuff started showing up in ALO." Ryoutarou declared. "I mean… how does any of this mythos stuff fit in with the land of the fairies anyway?"

"I've actually been reading a lot of stories connected to the Cthulhu Mythos lately, so I know a little bit about it." Si-eun revealed. "There are apparently three types of gods in the mythos. First there are the Great Old Ones like Cthulhu and Tsathoggua. Then there are the Outer Gods, like Azathoth and Nyarlathotep. The third type of god in the mythos is the Elder Gods, more benevolent gods who have been protecting the earth for centuries. What the designers of ALO basically did was use the Norse and Greek gods like Thor and Poseidon that already existed in the game take the place of the Elder Gods."

"Ever since the whole Donis thing, the designers have been putting in the Great Old Ones as boss monsters in hidden parts of ALO." Andrew added. "And Cthulhu is the latest one to get put in as part of the last big update."

"And you really think what I saw has to do with R'lyeh?" Asuna asked.

"There's been word flying around on the message boards that undine players have been seeing these weird visions since the last update whenever they get killed in-game." Andrew revealed. "This is the first time that anyone's found a new item in their inventory after it happened though. Guess a lot of those players who had the same vision never thought to check their inventory afterward. But we do know that R'lyeh has been added to the game somewhere in the waters of undine territory. The problem is… nobody's been able to find it."

"How's it possible that nobody's been able to find R'lyeh so far?" Si-eun asked. "In the original story about Cthulhu, R'lyeh is supposed to be huge."

"Maybe there's some kind of task that's needed to unlock R'lyeh before anyone can get to it." Ryoutarou theorized. "Like a key that needs to be found or something."

"Innsmouth." Asuna suddenly spoke. "The end of that logbook I told you about said that there was some kind of key to finding R'lyeh in a seaport called Innsmouth."

"Now that you mention it, the other day I heard about some kind of abandoned village that showed up in undine territory kinda suddenly." Ryoutarou recalled. "Guess that's this Innsmouth place you're talking about."

"Then I say we all go to Innsmouth later and check the place out." Asuna decided.

"A boss raid against Cthulhu. Sounds like a blast." Andrew declared. "You can count the three of us in, but we'll probably need a bigger party if we're going to be taking on one of the strongest Great Old Ones in the game."

"Too bad Kirito's still outta town." Ryoutarou remarked. "How soon is he coming back?"

"Not for at least a couple of days." Asuna answered. "And if I want to make it into the tournament, we better do this quest quick. Guess we'll just have to ask Silica, Liz, Leafa and Sinon to come along."

"Yeah… I don't know if that's gonna happen." Ryoutarou spoke. "I mean Silica would probably be for this quest, but the other three… yeah, I can't really see them joining us after the whole Donis thing. Especially since we'd be going on a mythos-related quest."

Asuna had to admit that her friend had a good point. The month before, Asuna's other friends from ALO, Lisbeth, Sinon and Leafa had encountered another player who went by the name Donis. Leafa and the other two had practically fallen in love with Donis, partly due to the fact that his avatar in the game was almost identical to Kirito's. The sad truth though was that Donis hadn't even been real, but was merely an artificially intelligent NPC based on the Cthulhu Mythos deity known as Nyarlathotep. Nyarlathotep's existence in the game had actually been brought on by a computer virus that a hacker had inflicted on ALO to make the game generate Cthulhu Mythos elements, and had the virus totally succeeded the game would've been completely rewritten. Fortunately Nyarlathotep had been defeated and the virus was eliminated, but the entire incident had left deep wounds in the hearts of Asuna's three friends. Since that time, the group had slowly started to drift apart.

"…I know how badly Liz and the others were hurt by what happened with Donis, but I think this quest might be just what we need to bring us together again." Asuna told them. "As sad as it is, I think the reason why they've been staying away is because Kirito reminds them of Donis, but Kirito won't be with us this time."

"Well… it sure wouldn't hurt to ask them." Andrew admitted. "The way things are now though, we may have to pay Sinon quite a bit of cash in-game to get her to join us. Since the whole Donis thing, Sinon's become a player killer for higher. They've been calling her the Phantom Arrow."

"Lisbeth meanwhile has just been pretty mean to everyone since that time, especially to me." Ryoutarou added. "As for Leafa, I don't see her in the game as much as I used to. And whenever I have seen her, she's always seemed kinda sad."

"That's understandable. Leafa fell pretty hard for Donis." Asuna pointed out. "Much harder than Liz and Sinon did…. Anyway, I still think we should ask them to join us. I'll talk to all of them tomorrow to see if they're in."

"And if they're not?" Andrew asked.

"…Then I guess we'll have to figure out something else." Asuna answered.

Si-eun suddenly rose from her chair. "Be sure to call us and let us know what happens. Ryou, we should probably get going if we want to be on time for that movie."

"Oh yeah!" Ryoutarou replied as he stood up. "We'll catch you guys later."

Asuna and Andrew watched with quizzical expressions as the other two left the bar.

"Is there something going on between those two that we should know about?" Andrew asked.

"I was wondering the same thing earlier." Asuna replied.

* * *

Things had already started to wind down at the SAO Returnees' School with major exams finally out of the way. With testing done, it was the last day before the school closed for the week to give the students a nice rest. As Asuna walked into the cafeteria, she quickly spotted a familiar young girl with light-brown hair tied in pigtails. This girl was Asuna's friend, Keiko Ayano, known in the worlds of SAO and ALO as Silica the Dragon Tamer. Asuna went over to Keiko's table and sat across from her as the two exchanged greetings.

"I bet you're feeling more relaxed now that exams are finally over, huh Asuna?" Keiko assumed.

"Not as relaxed as I'd like to be." Asuna admitted. "Keiko, there's something I'd like to ask you. Siune, Klein, Agil and I are thinking of going on this quest in ALO here pretty soon. It's to explore this city that was added to the game called R'lyeh and probably fight the monster that lives there. I was wondering if you might be willing to join us."

"Sure! Sounds like it'd be interesting." Keiko cheerfully agreed.

"What sounds like it'd be interesting?" a voice interrupted.

Standing near Asuna and Keiko's table was a young woman with short brown hair who was holding a lunch tray. She had on a tan sweater instead of the jacket normally worn as part of the school uniform. This was Asuna's other friend, Rika Shinozaki, better known in the worlds of SAO and ALO as Lisbeth the Blacksmith.

"Oh! Rika! Asuna was just inviting me to go on this quest in ALO." Keiko explained.

"I was actually hoping that you'd be willing to come along too." Asuna revealed.

"I see…" Rika said with a look of displeasure as she took a seat next to Keiko. "Is Kirito going to be on this quest too?"

"No. He's still out of town." Asuna answered. "Klein's going to be there though. Would that be a problem?"

"…Nah. I can usually tolerate Klein pretty well." Rika answered. "But you haven't said what this quest was."

"We're going to try and take on one of the Great Old Ones." Asuna answered. "In fact… we're going to fight Cthulhu."

"Uh, really Asuna?" Keiko asked as some of the color drained from her face. "You didn't mention that we'd be going after one of those Lovecraft monsters."

"You're not going to back out, are you Keiko?" a somewhat alarmed Asuna asked.

"No! Of course not!" Keiko assured her. "It's just… those Old Ones are pretty scary."

"Fine. I'm in." Rika finally decided. "If we're going to take on an Old One though, you should probably stop by my shop first. We'll need some of the tok'l-metal weapons I've made if we want a shot at taking down a monster like Cthulhu?"

"Then how 'bout we meet at your shop the day after tomorrow?" Asuna suggested. "I'll get back to you with the exact time."

"Whatever." Rika agreed as she stood back up. "Now if you'll excuse me, I think I'd like to eat alone for a change."

With that, Asuna and Keiko watched as Rika silently walked off.

Asuna let out a heavy sigh. "Well, at least she said yes. I just wish that she had a better attitude about it."

"I know. It seems like Rika's been mad at everyone this past month." Keiko remarked. "She's even snapped at me a few times for no reason. This must have to do with Donis, huh?"

"Yep. We're just going to have to give her some time." Asuna replied. "That's all we can really do."

"Then maybe we should just leave Rika out of this quest." Keiko suggested.

"No. We need her for this." Asuna declared. "Besides… I hate how it seems like we've all drifted apart. I really don't want to lose Rika's friendship. Or Shino's or Suguha's."

"Well then… maybe fighting this monster will be just what we need to bring us all back together." Keiko suggested with an optimistic smile.

"I hope you're right." Asuna replied.

* * *

It was fairly early in the evening as Asuna arrived at the front door of the Kirigaya residence. The orange-brown-haired girl knocked on the door, and after a few moments a well-endowed young woman with short dark hair answered the door. Asuna knew this girl as her boyfriend's younger sister, Suguha Kirigaya, better known in the world of ALO as the blonde fairy, Leafa.

"Hi Sugu!" Asuna spoke with a somewhat nervous smile. "How are you doing?"

"Fine." Sugu answered. "You do know that my brother still isn't home yet, right?"

"Of course. It was actually you who I came to see." Asuna revealed. "Some of the others and I were planning to go on this quest in ALO the day after tomorrow, and we were wondering if you'd be willing to join us."

"You cam all the way here just to ask me that?" Sugu asked with a raised eyebrow. "You could've just called, you know."

"Well, I actually wasn't sure if you'd answer the phone for me." Asuna revealed. "I mean… I know how you haven't been logging into ALO as much as you used to, so thought maybe you'd blow me off over the phone."

"Oh… well, you are right that I haven't been online as much as I used to." Sugu admitted. "Being in that world just reminds me too much of Donis sometimes. But, I might be willing to go on this quest with you. Can I have a little time to think about it though?"

"Sure. If you decide to come along, we'll be meeting up at Lisbeth's shop tomorrow afternoon." Asuna replied. "I hope I'll see you then."

With that, Asuna said her farewells and headed off. As she headed for home, Asuna couldn't help but kick herself a bit because she lied when she told Sugu the reason why she thought she wouldn't answer her over the phone. Asuna was afraid that Sugu hated her. She couldn't blame Sugu if she did. After all, Kirito was really only Sugu's cousin and also her first love, and thanks to what had happened in SAO Asuna had stolen Kirito away.

Asuna thought that perhaps Sugu's potential hatred for her might've grown since what happened with Donis. She and Kirito had tried to interfere with Sugu's relationship with Donis, and even though it had been the right thing to do because of what Donis really was, Asuna was afraid that what she did had only made Sugu despise her more. First Asuna had stolen away the first man Sugu ever loved, and then she butted into her relationship with the second man she had loved. With that sort of track record, Asuna felt certain that Sugu had started to see her as something or a mortal enemy. Of course the fact that Sugu was at least willing to entertain the idea of going on the quest to R'lyeh was an encouraging sign to Asuna. Now all that was left was to ask Sinon to join in, a task that Asuna found that she feared just as much as asking Sugu to come with. After all, nobody likes to run the risk of taking an arrow to the head.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Sorry if this chapter wasn't exactly my best work. It's going to take me a little while to get everything properly set up. I can assure everyone though that things in this story will start to pick up more soon.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	3. The Phantom Arrow

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Sword Art Online.

* * *

Chapter 3: The Phantom Arrow

It was the dead of night as the salamander player, Augustus ran for his virtual life. In the real world, Augustus was just an ordinary office worker with a shoebox of an apartment, but in the world of ALO he was a powerful military commander in charge of one of the largest forts in salamander territory. Yet there he was, suddenly fleeing to save his skin. He had been flying back to the base after taking care of some business when suddenly someone had started firing arrows at him. Augustus had decided to take to the ground and use the forest for cover, but that had proven to be a fatal mistake.

Once Augustus had entered the forest, the attacks had become far more relentless. As the salamander commander ran through the dark woods, four more arrows flew down at him from several directions. Somehow he had managed to dodge each one. An ordinary player might've thought that he was being attacked by an army of archers, but Augustus had the feeling that what was attacking him was far worse. Just as Augustus was about to make it out of the forest, a figure suddenly materialized out of thin air.

The figure in question was a young woman with fairly short light-blue hair and a pair of large cat ears on her head, indicating she was a cait sith. She had on a long coat with shiny silver scales and a hood, which she had pulled down as she had appeared before Augustus. Under her coat, the cat girl had on a black breastplate with decorative gold trim, over a green shirt with a short green skirt with a decorative blue and gold sash hanging down the front. The woman had on a pair of black fingerless gloves and a pair of black boots. She was armed with a black bow and a quiver of arrows, and covering the upper half of her face was a simple black mask.

Augustus knew very well who the woman facing him was. For the past month, the salamander player had been hearing rumors about a deadly cait sith archer with an item that allowed her to become invisible and a strange magical skill that could let her do things like fire an arrow and have it strike the back of an enemy who was standing directly in front of her. This archer had quickly gained the reputation of a mercenary in ALO, a player killer for hire. Her real name in the game was Sinon, but she had quickly earned a very fitting nickname. She had become known as the Phantom Arrow.

Sinon took an ornate black and gold arrow from her quiver and aimed it at Augustus. "Commander Augustus! You have failed your leaders!"

"What is the meaning of this?" Augustus asked, managing to gain his composure. "Just who hired you to come after me?"

"Your own commander, General Eugene." Sinon answered. "He found out about some of your shadier business dealings with the gnomes; how you've been letting them mine for resources in key parts of salamander territory in exchange for a chunk of what they haul up. Needless to say, he's not thrilled."

"So what? He sends a player killer to take care of me?" Augustus asked. "As if that would teach me a lesson! After all, it's not like dying in this game is actually fatal!"

"You know about the reincarnation system that ALO has, right?" Sinon asked. "Basically a player can basically be reborn as a member of another fairy race, provided they can strike a deal with the leader of that race. But one of the more recent game updates included a new wrinkle to that feature. Basically the leader of a race can put a curse on a weapon, making it so when it kills a fellow player in their race to be reborn into whatever race they choose. The arrow I'm pointing at you right now is a cursed arrow that General Eugene gave me. He decided that since you enjoy being a thief so much, than you may as well play this game as a spriggan."

"A spriggan? I'd almost rather delete my account than play as one of those powerless treasure hunters!" Augustus declared.

"You know a friend of mine happens to play as a spriggan, and he happens to be one of the strongest players in the game." Sinon told him. "But I guess you like having the glory that comes with being a salamander commander."

"Damn!" Augustus cursed as he took a step back. "Well… there's no way I'm going to let you use that damn arrow on me!"

"You've already taken some serious damage from my earlier attacks." Sinon reminded him. "One headshot, and your HP will be at zero."

Augustus suddenly turned and ran back through the forest as fast as his legs could carry him. Sinon aimed her arrow down at the base of a tree she was standing near and fired. The arrow vanished at the point where the tree grew out of the ground. A split second later the arrow reappeared struck Augustus' head from the side. The salamander's HP went to zero and his body turned into a floating ball of red flames. The fireball turned purple as Sinon walked up to it.

"If it makes you feel better, Eugene told me that he may make you a salamander again one day… if he thinks you've truly repented, that is." Sinon told the fireball. "For now though, you better get used to playing as a spriggan."

The fireball finally died away and Sinon exited the forest. Just as she was about to put up her hood and fly off into the sky, she saw Asuna standing before her a few feet away.

"You're actually pretty frightening." Asuna remarked. "Bet you make good money as a player killer, huh?"

"How the heck did you find me?" Sinon asked.

"That coat of yours may make you invisible, but it can't keep me from finding you with my friend list." Asuna answered. "Of course I had to wait for you to finish off that guy before I could find exactly where you were. That's the first time I've seen one of those curse weapons in action."

"Yeah. Guess the designers wanted to put in a few new consequences for dying at the hands of a player killer." Sinon replied. "So is there a reason why you came to find me?"

"I wanted to ask if you'd be willing to join me and some of the others on this quest." Asuna answered. "We're planning to go to R'lyeh to take on Cthulhu, and we could use all the help we can get. Um… if it's a matter of money, I'm sure we could pay you something."

"Nah. You wouldn't have to pay me for something like that." Sinon told her. "Still… I'm not really sure I'd want to go on a quest like that right now."

"Oh… well, if you change your mind, we're meeting at Lisbeth's shop the day after tomorrow." Asuna told her.

"I'll consider it." Sinon replied. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'd like to get back to my apartment in-game so I can log out for the night."

"Sure." Asuna responded. "Hey Sinon… why did you end up becoming a player killer anyway?"

"…Let's just say it's my way of dealing with some issues I'm still having." Sinon answered. "Later."

With that, Sinon put up her hood and vanished before Asuna's eyes. Asuna sighed and flew off into the night sky.

* * *

In the real world, the girl known as Sinon the Phantom Arrow was an ordinary high school student named Shino Asada. Like the day before at the SAO Returnees' School, things at Shino's high school were starting to wind down after a brutal week of exams. That gave Shino plenty of time that day to consider Asuna's request. Later in the afternoon, Shino was participating in the activities of the school's archery club. The dark-haired girl had joined the club just a few days after the Donis incident.

Shino hadn't joined the archery club to improve her skills in ALO, but rather she joined as a way for her to release her anger at Donis, which was also the same reason why she had become a player killer for hire in ALO. Almost every time Shino aimed at the target, she imagined that she was aiming at Donis's crotch. Shino was able to hit the target practically every time she did that visualization, but that particular afternoon Shino's arrows had been off. She hadn't been missing the target completely, but at the same time she hadn't been able to hit the bull's-eye even once. Shino found that the more she missed, the more frustrated she became, and that frustration was working against her.

"I don't think I've ever seen you this off before, Shino." A voice spoke from behind.

Shino turned, and standing before her was a young woman who was the same age as she was. The young woman was a little taller that Shino, and had long very dark brown hair and deep dark-grey eyes. This woman was Nakuru Kitamori, the president of the archery club.

"I guess I'm just having an off day." Shino told Nakuru.

"I think the problem is you're just too tense." Nakuru assumed. "Take aim at the target."

Shino turned back and prepared another arrow. As she prepared to fire, Nakuru suddenly pressed herself against Shino from behind and gently took hold of the wrist that was holding the bow. As Nakuru adjusted Shino's aim, her other hand pressed against Shino's rear, causing her to let out a gasp.

"Keep your leg straight." Nakuru whispered in Shino's ear. "Breathe… focus only on the target. Don't let any other thoughts cloud your mind. And when you're ready… release."

Shino cleared all other thoughts from her mind and took a deep breath. As she focused on the target, her breathing became in sync with Nakuru's. After a few moments, Shino released her arrow and it flew through the air to hit the center of the target.

"Much better." Nakuru told her as she stepped back. "Well, I think that's it for today everyone. I'll see you all in a few days after the break. Shino, I trust our plans for coffee are still on?"

"Yep. I'm looking forward to it." Shino told her.

With that, the other club members started to disperse. Shino began to pack up some of her equipment before heading back to the changing room.

"Hey Asada. Got a minute?" a voice suddenly asked. Shino turned around to see it was one of the other girls in the club.

"What's up Yumeji?" Shino asked.

"Well, I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but I think President Kitamori has a thing for you." Yumeji answered.

"What're you talking about?" Shino asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Take the way she helped you with your aim just now. She was using that as a way to feel you up." Yumeji told her. "She even grabbed your ass!"

"You're reading way too much into things." Shino told her. "Nakuru would give the same kind of help to anyone else in the club."

"The president's helped all of us when we haven't been performing at our best, but you're the only one she's so 'hands-on' with." Yumeji pointed out. "Trust me. She has a thing for you."

"You really don't know what you're talking about." Shino told her. "And even if you're right, it really isn't any of your business anyway."

"Yeah… you're right." Yumeji replied. "I just felt like I should say something so you wouldn't be caught off guard in case she tried to do more than just help you with your aim. Well… see you after the break, I guess."

With that, Shino went about her business and completely dismissed her fellow club member's comment. Of course Shino have to admit that it did seem like Nakuru was just trying to cop a feel every now and then, but she was fairly certain that had never been Nakuru's intention. The fact was that Shino and Nakuru had actually become good friends fairly quickly after Shino had joined the archery club. One thing that cemented their friendship was an incident where Nakuru had protected Shino from this group of bullies who regularly harassed her at school. Shino had long ago learned how to deal with those bullies, but there were some days where dealing with them was just too hard. Since that time incident, Shino and Nakuru were often seen together at school. The simply fact was that Shino really liked being around Nakuru, and it had been her friendship with Nakuru that had helped Sinon recover a great deal from the Donis incident.

Later that afternoon, Shino and Nakuru met back up at this little café that they usually frequented. Their conversation had mostly started with small things, like how they were both glad that exams were finally over.

"So Shino… just what was it that was affecting your concentration before?" Nakuru suddenly asked. "You know… when you were trying to hit the target?"

"Oh… well, last night this friend of mine sort of asked me to do this favor for her." Shino answered.

"Is this favor something you don't want to do?" Nakuru asked.

"No. It's just… you remember me telling you about my ex-boyfriend, right?" Shino asked her.

"You mean that asshole who cheated on you with several other girls and basically put you off men for at least a decade?" Nakuru replied, quoting a statement that Shino had once made. "Yeah. I think I remember you saying something about him."

"Well, my friend's boyfriend looks just like my ex." Shino revealed. "In fact they could've been long lost twin brothers. And the truth is that the reason why I fell for my ex in the first place was because I had a crush on my friend's boyfriend. Plus if that wasn't bad enough, my friend and her boyfriend both pretty much know about this crush."

"Oh… yeah, that is kind of awkward." Nakuru admitted.

"It's just… I can't really figure out how I'm supposed to act around the two of them after this." Shino continued. "I guess we've kind of drifted apart because of it. But the thing is… I'm kind of afraid that my friend sort of hates me now… because of how I once felt about her boyfriend."

"Shino… if this friend of yours asked you for a favor, that she probably doesn't hate you." Nakuru pointed out. "Besides, do you have any plans to try and steal her boyfriend away?"

"Hell no! I could never do that." Shino answered. "Not with how he also looks like my ex. That would just be weird!"

"Then there really isn't any problem." Nakuru told Shino as she took her hand from across the table. "You shouldn't let what happened with your ex destroy your other relationships."

"…You're right." Shino realized. "It's past time that I really put what happened with my ex behind me. Thanks Nakuru."

"No problem." Nakuru told her. "I'm here whenever you need me, Shino."

About half an hour later, the two friends parted company and Shino headed back to her apartment. The dark-haired archer had decided to go ahead help Asuna with her quest, but there were a couple of things that she needed to do in ALO that night before then. For one thing, she still needed to get paid for the Augustus job, and there were still a couple targets that she needed to take out. Shino was still the Phantom Arrow after all, and going on a single quest with some friends wasn't going to change that anytime soon.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** The inspiration behind Sinon's Phantom Arrow persona actually comes from the hit CW T.V. series, _Arrow_. My dad and I spent much of the last couple of months streaming the first three seasons of the show from Netflix. It's a good show, though admittedly I'm kind of burnt out on it at the moment. Plus I had some issues with season three that I won't get into.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	4. Journey to R'lyeh

**Author's Note:** In case anyone reading is interested, I took a little break from this story over the weekend to work on this little _Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V_ one-shot called _Passion Arena_. It's one of my more "twisted" stories, but one that I'm fairly happy with. I know this may not seem like the right place to plug a one-shot like that, but I want to get the word out for the story in any way I can.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Sword Art Online, nor to I own the works of H.P. Lovecraft.

* * *

Chapter 4: Journey to R'lyeh

It was early in the afternoon as Asuna waited in Lisbeth's shop for the party to assemble. The pink-haired blacksmith was at that moment busy with putting the finishing touches on the weapons and armor they would be using on the trip to R'lyeh. Siune, Klein and Agil were also present in the shop, and Silica had arrived with her little blue dragon, Pina only a few minutes after the others had shown up. Since then, the group had been waiting for at least an hour to see if Leafa and Sinon would show. Just as Asuna was about to give up hope, the door to the shop opened and walking in was the blonde fairy that the gang knew as Sugu's alter ego in the game, Leafa.

"Glad you could make it." Asuna told Leafa.

"This quest sounded a little too interesting to pass up." Leafa replied as she approached. "So, is everyone here?"

"Everyone except for Sinon." Asuna answered. "It's starting to look like she might not show up."

Suddenly Silica let out a small shriek as she felt something pulling on her tail. The others all looked in time to see Sinon materialize out of thin air behind the younger catgirl as she pulled down the hood of her long coat.

"What's up guys?" Sinon asked with a wave.

"How long have you been there?" Asuna asked.

"Since Liz opened up the shop." Sinon answered. "I couldn't resist the chance to mess with you guys."

"So you've just been lurking around here this whole time?" Lisbeth asked.

"Pretty much." Sinon confirmed. "So I guess we're all here then?"

"Yep. Once Liz finishes with our new weapons, we can head out." Asuna replied.

"Hey Sinon, you mind doing us all a favor and lose the mask?" Klein requested. "It's not like I don't think the mask is cool, but you wearing that thing while we're on a quest makes me feel like we're about to commit a robbery or something."

"Oh. Good point." Sinon replied as she brought up her menu screen. After a single click, the mask vanished from Sinon's face with a flash of blue light. "I guess I don't need to be the Phantom Arrow for this mission, huh?"

"Why the heck do you wear that stupid thing anyway?" Lisbeth asked. "It's not like you need to hide your identity in this game."

"It makes me look like a badass." Sinon answered. "When you're a player killer, intimidation is a very helpful tool."

"Whatever" Lisbeth huffed. "I've finished the equipment we'll need for this boss raid. Leafa, I'm guessing that you and Sinon still have the armor we all had from our days in the Order of Yig, but I know that the tok'l-metal sword you had got trashed in the fight with Nyarlathotep. That's why I took the liberty of making you a replacement. It's not as good as the last one, but it should do for this quest."

"Actually Liz, if it's all the same to you, I'd rather use my regular sword for this quest." Leafa replied. "I know that a tok'l-metal weapon would probably be better against a Great Old One, but I can't quite bring myself to use a sword like the one I had that time."

Lisbeth ground her teeth. "Fine! See if I care! It's not like I spent a long time making it or anything."

"Okay! I think we should get going." Asuna suggested upon noticing the tension in the room. "Now we're going to have to go to Innsmouth first in order to find the key to unlock R'lyeh. Since none of us have been there before, we should probably be ready for anything."

Once the team had finished getting their new equipment ready, they exited the shop and flew off towards undine territory. After several minutes of flight, the team spotted the ruined fishing village of Innsmouth from the air. The seaport looked as though it might've been a beautiful and thriving colony once a few hundred years ago, but now it had fallen into a state of morbid decay, and projecting out from the shore almost like a cancer growth was some kind of black reef. The buildings and houses that made up the village had greyed with age and lost all their paint. Some of the structures had large holes in their roofs or were missing their roofs entirely, and all of them had windows that were either broken or boarded up.

As Asuna's team descended down to the dead seaport, their nostrils were instantly assaulted by the foul scent of dead fish mixed with the salt air of the ocean. The auroma was so pungent that Klein and Silica had to hold their noses shut for a bit at first as they landed. Asuna also couldn't help but feel that even though the village was nothing more than a dead bloated ruin on the shore, there was still life lurking within it.

"I don't know about the rest of your guys, but it feels like we're being watched." Siune spoke.

"I'm getting the same feeling." Asuna admitted as she grasped the handle of her sword.

"There's a good chance that something is watching us." Sinon told them. "Innsmouth is a location from one of Lovecraft's most iconic stories. I'm guessing that this version of Innsmouth is populated by the creatures from that same story."

"I don't know if something is really watching us or not, but the one thing I'm sure of is that I'm probably going to be off sushi for a little while." Klein remarked as he continued to hold his nose shut. "This place smells almost as bad as N'kai."

"So what's the plan Asuna?" Agil asked.

"We split up and look for the key." Asuna decided. "Agil, you go with Leafa and Sinon to search the east part of the village. Liz, you take Silica and search the west end. I'll search this area around here with Klein and Siune."

"Sounds like a plan." Leafa agreed.

"Whatever." Lisbeth replied with a roll of her eyes.

"Now let's all stay sharp." Asuna told them. "If mine and Siune's instincts plus Sinon's knowledge of this place are right, this village could end up being pretty dangerous."

* * *

Twenty minutes had gone by as Leafa searched the abandoned village of Innsmouth with Sinon and Agil. Not a single building the trio had entered contained anything that seemed like a key to finding R'lyeh. Eventually Leafa's group entered a fairly large brick hotel that was apparently called the Gilman House. As soon as they had entered the lobby, Leafa head some kind of croaking noise coming from behind the front desk. The blonde had only gone a step towards the sound when a creature suddenly leapt out from behind the desk at her.

The creature in question had a somewhat humanoid build, but was like some kind of mixture between fish and frog. Its scaly skin had a greenish-grey tint to it, and the sides of the neck that supported its fishy head had what appeared to be gills. Just as the thing started to charge at Leafa, four black arrows flew through the air and struck the creature's chest and right shoulder, taking its HP gauge down to less than half. Leafa glanced back and saw that Sinon had fired the arrows from behind. Agil charged in and slashed the beast three times with his axe. The third strike not only took the monster's HP to zero, but had also severed its head in the process. The pieces of the monster's body shattered into blue polygons before its head could hit the ground.

Leafa breathed a sigh of relief. "What the hell was that thing?"

"A Deep One." Sinon answered. "They're the monsters from that Lovecraft story that I told you about. The Deep Ones are also worshippers of Cthulhu."

"Then it's even less surprising that the key to unlock R'lyeh would be hidden somewhere in this village." Agil remarked.

"What else do you know about the Deep Ones?" Leafa asked.

"Well… in the story, the Deep Ones also like to breed with humans." Sinon answered. "In fact almost everyone living in Innsmouth in the story is a Deep One/human hybrid."

Upon hearing this, Leafa shuddered. "Suddenly I don't feel very comfortable being here."

"Yeah, I kinda feel the same way." Sinon admitted. "I guess I shouldn't have mentioned that part of the story to you, huh?"

"We should probably start searching the rooms of this hotel for the key." Agil suggested. "At the very least, we might find a few interesting items that I could sell off later."

With that, Leafa and Sinon followed Agil up the stairs to the second floor. A silence hung over the trio as Sinon and Leafa walked a step behind.

"So Leafa, how've you been holding up?" Sinon quietly asked.

"I'm fine. That thing about the Deep Ones you told me doesn't freak me out that much." The blonde answered.

"No, I mean… how've you been doing since what happened with Nyarlathotep?" Sinon asked.

"Oh… you mean Donis." Leafa realized. "I've been getting better. I still do miss Donis sometimes though, as messed up as that sounds."

"I get it. You fell for Donis pretty hard." Sinon replied. "A lot harder than Liz and I ever did."

"I think the hard part has been accepting the fact that Donis wasn't even real." Leafa admitted.

"Guess it just proves that there's no such thing as the perfect guy, huh?" Sinon remarked.

"Or that he's just already taken." Leafa replied, making a not so subtle reference to Kirito. "How have you been doing after what happened?"

"I was pretty angry for a while after we found out what Donis really was." Sinon answered. "Angry and pretty hurt. I mainly became a player killer as a way to deal with those feelings. At this point though, I think I'm pretty over it."

"You're a lot stronger than I am, Sinon." Leafa declared.

"We should probably be on our guard now." Sinon suggested. "Who knows how many Deep Ones might be hiding in these rooms?"

* * *

Silica had been a little on edge since Asuna and Siune mentioned that they felt like they weren't alone in the decaying ruins of Innsmouth. Lisbeth meanwhile had hardly said a word to her since they had broken off from the main team to search. Suddenly a Deep One burst out of one of the abandoned houses at Silica, causing her to scream. Before the creature could strike, Lisbeth charged in and bashed the aquatic monster on the side of the head with her golden hammer, Mjolnir. The creature's HP fell to about half, but the Deep One quickly recovered and fought back by slashing the pinkette across her left arm. Lisbeth only lost a small amount of HP and struck the Deep One two more times. The monster's HP fell to zero and its body shattered into blue polygons.

"You okay?" Lisbeth asked.

"Yeah. I'm fine." Silica answered.

"Well get your head in the game, wouldja?" Lisbeth snapped. "I can't look for this key and watch your sorry ass at the same time!"

"Why are you being so mean, Liz?" Silica asked. "First you insult Sinon's mask, then you snap at Leafa! Now me? What's your problem?"

"Look, I'm sorry!" Lisbeth told her. "It's just… I guess I didn't really want to go on this quest in the first place."

"Well if you didn't really want to come, then why'd you agree?" Silica asked.

"I don't know! I guess I just wasn't thinking." Lisbeth answered.

"This can't be just about the quest!" Silica told her. "You've been mean to practically everybody for the past month. This is about Donis, isn't it Liz?"

"Don't ever mention his name!" Lisbeth told her in a low hate-filled voice. "I never want to hear that name again for as long as I live!"

"Liz…" Silica spoke.

"Just forget it, okay?" Lisbeth told her as she turned around. "Let's just find this key so we can locate that R'lyeh place and get the hell out of here."

With that, Lisbeth stormed off. Pina licked Silica's cheek in an attempt to comfort her upset master. Silica gave the small dragon a smile and petted her on the head before finally following after Lisbeth.

* * *

The search being done by Asuna's group eventually brought them to a building that appeared to be some sort of abandoned church. The name of the church was over the door in large brass letters, and though some of those letters had since fallen their outlines were still there. The church was for some kind of cult known as the Esoteric Order of Dagon. As Asuna and Siune came closer to the church, they could sense that something wasn't right.

Asuna grasped the handle of her sword. "I don't think that place is empty."

"You're right. Something's definitely in there." Siune agreed.

"How the heck can you two tell something like that?" Klein asked with a quirked brow.

"We're not sure." Asuna answered. "Ever since we landed in this village, I could somehow tell that we're not alone."

"I've been feeling the same thing." Siune added. "Don't ask me how or why though."

"Well, let's just go into this creepy church and see if that key thing is in there." Klein told them.

With that, the trio entered the Order of Dagon Hall. As soon as they were through the door, they encountered a small hoard consisting of five Deep Ones. One of the croaking fish-frog things immediately charged towards Siune. Klein quickly got in the creature's path and slashed it several times, taking its HP into the red. Meanwhile, Asuna fiercely attacked the other four Deep Ones. Once Klein had finished off the creature that had gone after Siune, he helped destroy one of the other four members of the hoard, leaving Asuna to finish off the remaining three.

"What the hell were those things?" Klein asked as he sheathed his sword. "Guess you two were right about something being in here."

"Yeah. I'd sure like to know how though." Asuna remarked.

"Wait a sec… it's only been undine players like me and Asuna who have been having these visions relating to Cthulhu." Siune realized. "What if the undine race has some kind of connection to Cthulhu and these fish monsters because of its connection to water?"

"That does kinda make sense." Klein agreed as he held his chin. "But if that's true, how exactly does this ability you and Asuna have to sense these fish monsters work?"

"That is a good question." Asuna replied. "I mean it's not like a normal detection system that would appear on the heads-up display, but more of a… physical thing. If Kirito were here, he could probably explain it. He knows more about the amusphere than any of us."

"We can figure that out later. Right now, we should look for that key to finding R'lyeh." Siune reminded them.

With the Deep One hoard gone, Asuna and the others were able to take a good look around the church. There was a large gaping hole in the wall at the far end of the structure that showed the ocean beyond. In front of the hole atop a marble altar was a large statue made of an odd black stone. The statue was of a creature with an octopus head, a humanoid body and large bat-like wings sitting on a square pedestal with its legs tucked against its chest. The things head was leaning forward to that the tips of the tentacles covering its face were touching its knees.

"That's definitely Cthulhu." Klein observed. "You think this is the key?"

Asuna approached the statue and touched it to find that it was somewhat movable. With some difficulty, the blunette managed to turn the statue around so that it was facing the hole in the wall. When Asuna finished turning, the eyes of the statue started to glow and two beams of yellow light shot from the eyes out across the sea.

"I think if we follow those beams, we'll find R'lyeh." Asuna told the others.

"Then we better call the others and tell them to get over here." Klein suggested. "I just hope that R'lyeh doesn't turn out to be worse than this place."

A few short minutes after Asuna had PM'ed the others about finding the key, the other members of the quest party had quickly assembled at the dilapidated church. Once everyone had gathered, the team flew out across the sea following the beams of light. After what seemed like about ten minutes, Asuna and the others spied what at first seemed like an island in the distance. As they got closer though, they soon found that it was a giant city of black stone that had risen out of the ocean. The buildings of this city were all covered some sort of green ichor.

When Asuna and the rest of the team landed on the outer edge of city, they noticed that the geometry of the place seemed somehow distorted. All of the buildings and even the stone foundation of the city itself had angles that they shouldn't have. As they ventured into the dead and bloated metropolis, they passed by a giant staircase at the base of one of the gargantuan buildings that was built in an upward direction away from where they were but seemed to go in a backwards direction towards them, making it seem as though they would need to be able to walk on ceilings in order to use those giants steps.

"This place is totally disorienting." Siune remarked as she looked around. "It feels like we could get lost here pretty easily if we're not careful."

"The last time I saw a place like this in a game was back when I was a kid and I triggered this glitch while playing _Pokemon: Yellow_." Klein remarked. "All the maps were just totally garbled."

"At least there don't seem to be any monsters hiding around this place." Agil pointed out.

"That's probably because this place is basically a giant boss room." Sinon theorized. "Besides Cthulhu, there probably isn't anything else here. I mean could you image how hard it would be to search a place like this for items?"

Eventually the team made it to a sight that Asuna immediately recognized from the vision she had after being defeated by Nytokris. They found the massive doors that hide the very creature they had come to face.

"This is it." Asuna informed the others. "If we open this door, Cthulhu should show up."

"Are we sure we wanna do this?" Agil asked. "I mean… it's starting to seem like we don't have enough players for a raid like this."

"We've come too far to just turn back." Asuna pointed out. "We're going through with this."

With that, Asuna began to walk towards the massive doors. The blunette had only gotten two steps closer when the doors suddenly sprung open on their own. The team was instantly assaulted by an acrid stench that flowed out from the abyss before them. After that they heard a loud sort of flopping or squishing noise coming up from the hole. Then the creature emerged.

The specific details of the giant monstrosity that emerged from that stone abyss were too horrible to describe. Its body was a slime-green in color, and it did look like the statue that Asuna and the others had seen in the church back in Innsmouth. The monster had an octopus head with glowing yellow eyes, a humanoid body a flabby torso and muscular arms that had hands with long sharp claws, and a pair of large membranous wings were on its back. But as Asuna and the others looked at the mountainous thing that stood before them, the found that the Innsmouth idol that had been carved in the creature's likeness hardly did it justice. Soon after the abomination had risen from its hole, six HP gauges appeared by its body, and floating above its head in white letters was the name, High Priest Cthulhu.

"Oh man! I knew this quest was a terrible idea!" Lisbeth decalred.

"Get ready, everyone!" Asuna told the others as she drew her sword. "This is going to be our biggest battle yet!"

* * *

Please review and let me know what you think.


	5. Asuna vs Cthulhu

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Sword Art Online, nor do I own the works of H.P. Lovecraft.

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Chapter 5: Asuna vs. Cthulhu

Soon after emerging from his putrid crypt in the city of R'lyeh, Cthulhu let out a slimy incomprehensible sound that could only be described as a roar. Leafa took the initiative and drew her sword as she flew up towards the horrid beast. When the blonde fairy got in range she slashed her sword into the wrist of Cthulhu's raised right arm, but when the blade cut into the Old One's flesh, his wrist and hand turned into a green mist and reformed into its original shape. What alarmed Leafa even more though was that her attack hadn't taken a single point off of Cthulhu's HP. Cthulhu slammed his hand into Leafa, flinging her back down into the ground near where the others were standing. The blonde's HP had fallen into the low yellow. As Leafa got back to her feet, Cthulhu swung his left arm and clawed hand flew down towards the team as his wrist stretched like rubber.

Asuna and the others quickly scattered as the hand came toward them and Cthulhu's claws ended up striking the bare stone floor of the city. Soon after the creature's hand retracted, Cthulhu let out another horrid roaring noise. Asuna charged in from the ground and struck Cthuhu several times in his left leg. The attack from the black tok'l-metal rapier Lisbeth had given her before the mission had taken off some of Cthulhu's HP, but it was only a very small amount. Cthulhu lifted the leg that Asuna had just struck, forcing the blunette to fall back towards the others in order to avoid getting stomped.

"How come my attack didn't do any damage while Asuna's did?" Leafa asked.

"In the original story, Cthulhu's body was made of something other than normal matter!" Sinon recalled. "I don't think normal weapons will have any affect on him!"

"Bet you regret not taking that new sword that I offered you now, huh Leafa?" Lisbeth remarked.

"But even with Asuna's tok'l-metal sword, her attack hardly put a dent in that thing's HP!" Agil pointed out. "I don't like how this is turning out!"

"We'll just have to do the best we can!" Asuna told the others. "Leafa! You stay back with Siune and focus on healing the rest of us! Now let's do this!"

With that, the team scattered again as Cthulhu launched its hand at them for another attack. Lisbeth and Klein took to the air to attack Cthulhu while Asuna, Agil and Silica remained on the ground to strike at Cthulhu's legs. Sinon meanwhile flew up to the top of a small tower to snipe at Cthulhu with her arrows. As the battle started to really get going, Lisbeth managed to strike Cthulhu on the side of the head with Mjolnir and do some damage, revealing that the divine hammer from Thor was also affective against the evil undersea god. Sinon managed to land a few arrows on Cthulhu's chest while Klein got in a few good hits on the beast's right shoulder.

Before long, forty minutes had gone by since the start of the battle, and the team had just barely gotten Cthulhu's first HP gauge a quarter of the way down. Yet at the same time, Asuna and the rest of her team had done a fairly good job of evading Cthulhu's attacks. While the stretchy claw attack from the High Priest of the Old Ones was powerful, it was also fairly easy for them to avoid. Attacking Cthulhu from the air on the other hand was proving to be a bit more difficult, as the beast would slash his claws at any enemy that came within a certain range from the front. Cthulhu's claws were even able to block some of Sinon's arrows.

Eventually Sinon decided to use her power to see portals at certain angles in space and fire an arrow through a portal that would cause it to strike Cthulhu's back. Sinon found such a portal and opened fire, but the arrow that catgirl archer shot through the portal came out in an entirely different place than intended and hit Lisbeth in her right shoulder, taking off a quarter of the pinkette's HP.

Lisbeth pulled out the arrow and threw it to the ground. "Dammit Sinon! What the hell was that for?"

"I'm sorry! I wasn't aiming at you!" Sinon told her. "The geometry of this city is throwing off the portals I use for my arrows!"

"Well quit trying to show off with that power you got from screwing Nyarlathotep and attack that thing normally!" Lisbeth angrily ordered. "Or is that sort of thing beneath the great Phantom Arrow?"

An offended Sinon tried to brush off Lisbeth's comment and flew off to try and get a better vantage point. At least another two hours seemed to go by before Cthulhu's first HP gauge was finally taken to zero. Soon after though, Cthulhu let out another incomprehensible noise and fired a powerful stream of greenish water from the mouth hidden within the mass of tentacle on his face. The attack ended up striking the new perch Sinon had been using the launch her attacks and reduced the catgirl archer's HP to zero in an instant. The only thing that was left of Sinon was a floating ball of flames.

"Oh no! Sinon!" an alarmed Silica called out. "Does everyone have a revival item on them?"

"No! None of us do!" Siune answered. "I should've gone to find one before we went on this quest."

"We've only just taken one bar of health of this thing, and it already has a new attack pattern?" a stunned Klein observed. "How the hell are we supposed to beat 'em?"

"I don't know, but we keep going!" Asuna ordered. "We've come too far to just give up now!"

The battle began anew as the fireball that had once been Sinon burned away to nothing. Cthulhu's water cannon attack was proving far more difficult for Asuna and the others to dodge, but they managed to avoid that fatal as they continued their assault. At least another three hours had gone by before the team finally managed to take out Cthulhu's second HP gauge. Then, just as Klein flew in to slash Cthulhu in the face with his sword, the aquatic abomination suddenly snared the redhead with the tentacles of his octopus-like head and began to squeeze the life out of him. By the time Klein's HP had fallen to less than half, Cthulhu flung the swordsman back down to the ground with incredible force. Siune quickly cast a healing spell on Klein as he got back to his feet.

"Dammit!" Klein cursed as he wiped his mouth with his wrist. "This monster's attack pattern keeps changing! We've barely gotten the thing down to half its full health and its generating moves that only happen when a normal boss has a fraction of HP left."

At that moment, Lisbeth was flung to the ground after having been snared by Cthulhu's tentacles. Leafa cast a healing spell on the pinkette as Lisbeth got back up.

"I'm really starting to get pissed at this thing." Lisbeth decalred.

"The only thing we can do now is attack Cthulhu from behind while Asuna and the others hit him from the ground." Klein told her. "Now let's get back in there!"

It was about another four hours by the time Cthulhu's third HP gauge was taken out. After that, the creature's attack pattern started to speed up, with his clawed hands whipping down towards them twice in one setting instead of a single attack. Meanwhile, Asuna and her companions were starting to lose steam. For VRMMO players, mental fatigue was often just as big an enemy as the monsters they fought in the game. The task of navigating a complex dungeon or fighting off a boss-level monster often put a strain on one's concentration. Asuna and her fellow SAO survivors knew this fact very well, for back in that death game the loss of mental focus for a split second literally meant the difference between life and death in a critical battle. Yet in the current battle against Cthulhu, that old enemy known as mental exhaustion was starting to get a hold on Asuna and the rest of her team.

With the hours that continued to pass, the reaction time of Asuna and her friends began to slow and it was becoming much harder for them to evade Cthulhu's attacks. Just when the team had gotten Cthulhu's fourth HP down into the low yellow, Silica had fallen back after delivering a few strikes with her dagger. Suddenly one of Cthulhu's clawed hands came down and struck Silica in the back, knocking her to the ground and taking her HP into the red. Just as Cthulhu swung his clawed hand back down at her again, Silica quickly chanted a spell and her little dragon, Pina vanished with a flash of gold light. Cthulhu's clawed hand then struck and Silica had been reduced to a floating fireball.

"Silica!" a horrified Leafa called out.

"What was that spell Silica used?" Siune asked.

"It's a spell used to transport Pina to a certain save point so she can meet back up with her again in cait sith territory." Asuna explained. "She didn't want Pina to get wiped out along with her."

"Hey Asuna!" Lisbeth called down from the air. "Don't you think it's time we called it quits?"

"No! We keep going!" Asuna told her. "As long as we can still fight, we're not giving up!"

"I'm with you, Asuna!" Klein declared. "There's no way I'm backing down against this thing after getting so far! Especially after the way Sinon and Silica bought it! Now let's take this thing out!"

The battle resumed as Silica's fireball burned away to nothing. Asuna and the remaining team members were managing to hold out, but with both Silica and Sinon out of battle the task of chipping away at Cthulhu's HP was taking much longer. What was worse was that fighters were really starting to run out of steam. As the battle raged, Asuna and her remaining friends were still somehow managing to avoid most of Cthulhu's attacks, but they were starting to take more and more hits as time moved on. Leafa and Siune were really starting to burn through their MP trying to heal everyone.

After another six or seven hours, the team had gotten Cthulhu down to his sixth and final HP gauge. At that moment though, Cthulhu let out another horrid cry and fired several green lightning bolts from his membranous wings at Asuna and the others. Asuna and Agil had managed to dodge the attack, and Leafa and Siune had gotten out of the blast's range, but Klein and Lisbeth had been hit right as they had been moving in to hit Cthulhu in the stomach. Both of them crashed to the ground with their HP in the red. Before Siune and Leafa had a chance to heal the two, Cthulhu's massive claws came down and struck Lisbeth, taking her HP to zero.

Lisbeth shot Asuna an angry glare a split second before turning into a floating ball of flames. Meanwhile, Klein managed to avoid Cthulhu's second claw attack and Siune and Leafa were quickly able to heal him.

"Dammit!" Klein cursed. "He's starting to pick us off one by one!"

"Leafa! Siune! How you guys doing on MP?" Agil asked.

"We're almost out, I'm afraid!" Siune answered. "And Leafa and I each only have one more potion left that can restore our MP back to at least half."

"Damn! This is not looking good!" Agil declared. "This monster still has a full bar of health left! The damn thing might just be as strong as an SAO boss from one of the upper floors of Aincrad. Asuna! I hate to say it, but at this point I think we should…"

Before Agil could finish his thought, Cthulhu spewed out another blast of greenish water down at the bald gnome. Agil's HP dropped to zero in an instant and his body was reduced to a floating fireball.

"Oh no… Agil!" a horrified Asuna spoke.

"How the heck are we supposed to win now?" Leafa asked.

"Hey Asuna. I think we both know what Agil was going to say before he got wiped out, but I'm willing to keep fighting!" Klein declared. "We can't just call it quits now that we're this close to beating this thing!"

A look of steely determination reappeared on Asuna's face. "You're right. I'm not willing to let this thing get the best of me!"

"I'll keep hitting Cthulhu high while you keep hitting him low!" Klein told Asuna as he took back off into the air. "Let's beat this boss for Agil and the others!"

With that, the battle was quickly rejoined. Asuna continued to relentlessly strike at Cthulhu's legs while Klein slashed at the Old One's upper body, being careful to avoid his claws. Another four and a half hours had gone by before the duo had finally gotten Cthulhu's last HP gauge down to a quarter of what it originally was. Suddenly Cthulhu sprayed out another blast of greenish water down in Siune and Leafa's direction. Just as the attack was about to hit, Klein flew in and blocked the blast at the very last second. The redheaded swordsman gave Siune a cocky grin and a thumbs-up before turning into a floating ball of red flames right before her eyes.

"KLEIN!" Siune screamed.

"Asuna! This is just getting to be too much!" Leafa told the blunette. "There's no shame in backing out!"

"No!" Siune spoke. "We keep going! I know that's what Klein would want us to do!"

"Then we keep going!" Asuna decided. "This doesn't end until either that thing goes down or we do!"

With that, Asuna charged back towards Cthulhu, dodging one of the beast's claw attacks as she got in range of his legs. The blunette began to once again relentlessly strike at Cthulhu's legs with her sword, slowly chipping away at the High Priest's HP. Every now and then Asuna would have to fall back in order to avoid getting stomped by the beast, only to have to avoid one of Cthulhu's stretching claw attacks. At one point after falling back, Asuna avoided a claw strike only to get struck by the second claw attack that followed. Siune and Leafa quickly healed Asuna, and the blunette charged back into battle.

It was at least another hour and a half before Asuna finally got Cthulhu's HP down into the red zone. Then, after Asuna had fallen back yet again, Cthulhu fired another blast of green water down towards her. Leafa suddenly charged in and pushed Asuna out of the way, taking the attack in her place. The blonde fairy's HP dropped to zero in an instant and her body was reduced to a ball of green flames.

"Looks like it's just down to you and me, huh?" Siune spoke.

"Guess so." Asuna replied. "How's your MP holding out?"

"I don't have much left." Siune answered. "I'm going to have to save it for when you're in critical condition."

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that." Asuna replied before charging back into battle.

Another hour seemed to go by as Asuna continued her assault. Despite her exhaustion, Asuna had still managed to avoid most of Cthulhu's attacks. Eventually Cthulhu only had a very small amount of HP left, though it was still more than a sliver. Suddenly Cthulhu's wings fired another barrage of electricity down at Asuna and Siune. Asuna was struck in the arm and her HP gauge fell into the red zone. Siune on the other hand took a lightning bolt to the chest and fell to her knees. The undine healer's HP dropped like a stone and was at zero in a matter of seconds.

Siune gave Asuna a smile. "Asuna… I know you can still win."

With that, Siune's body was reduced to a floating ball of blue flames. Exhausted, Asuna fell to her knees and dropped her sword. Cthulhu loomed over her and let out a low growl.

 _'I'm such an idiot!'_ Asuna thought as she shut her eyes. _'What made me think I could take on a boss like this with only seven other players? They've all been wiped out because of me. And soon… I'll be joining them. It's all over.'_

 _"You're giving up now after getting so close?"_ a familiar voice suddenly spoke. _"That's not like the Asuna I know. C'mon! Get back up and show that thing what you're made of!"_

Asuna opened her eyes, and standing before her was the back of a young woman with long dark-purple hair, wearing a red and yellow headband. The young woman turned around and gave Asuna a huge grin before suddenly vanishing.

"Yuuki…" Asuna spoke.

The blunette didn't know how it was that her dead friend had suddenly appeared before her. She thought perhaps that the exhaustion was finally starting to get to her. Whatever the reason though, the encounter had relit the flame in Asuna's heart. The blunett picked her sword back up and got to her feet. Cthulhu let out another horrid roar as Asuna looked back up at him. The High Priest of the Old Ones shot his claws down towards her, but Asuna dashed away to the left and headed for one of the surrounding builgings. Cthulhu turned his head and shot another blast of greenish water at Asuna, but the blunette was a step ahead of the attack. Asuna then ran up the side of the building in front of her and pushed off of it, turning around in midair as she flew towards Cthulhu.

When she got in range, Asuna struck the creature several times in the hip. The attack had finally reduced Cthulhu's HP to nothing more than a mere sliver. Soon after, Asuna used her wings to fly up further and struck Cthulhu in the chest with the very move that she had inherited from Yuuki, the Mother's Rosario. Cthulhu's HP dropped to zero, and instead of shattering into blue polygons like a normal monster in ALO, Cthulhu's body popped like a balloon and became a swirling twister of green mist. After a few moments, the mist receded into the crypt that Cthulhu had emerged from and the doors to the hole slammed shut behind it.

Soon after, a holographic screen appeared in front of Asuna telling her that she had received an item called the _Book of the Primal Deep_. At the same time, the word "Congratulations" appeared over the doors to the crypt in large glowing white letters. A second later though the word was replaced by another floating and rather cryptic message.

 _"That is not dead which can eternal lie. And with strange eons even death may die."_

Before Asuna could totally process all that had just happened, a blinding flash of white light enveloped the entire area. When the light cleared, Asuna was standing in the middle of some kind of stone hallway that looked like it belonged in a castle. Hanging from the wall on the blunette's right was a large red and gold tapestry showing an image of Yggdrasil, the World tree. Right beneath the tapestry was a large wooden bench. Asuna had no idea what was happening, but deciding that she needed a moment to rest she went ahead and sat down on the bench.

Despite her last-moment victory against Cthulhu, Asuna couldn't help but feel guilty about how the battle went. Though she had obtained victory, it didn't change the fact that everyone else in her party had been wiped out. Of course getting killed in ALO wasn't anything like getting killed in SAO, where if you died in the game you died for real. Yet Asuna found that she couldn't take much comfort in that fact. She had been the one leading the team and it had been her idea to go on the quest in the first place. In the end, it was her decisions that had gotten everyone else wiped out.

Suddenly Asuna heard footsteps coming towards her, causing her to rise from the bench. Coming into view was a young-looking woman with long curled blonde hair and blue eyes. She had on a silver tiara with a red gem in the center, and wore a white dress with a short skirt that ended well above the knee and short baggy sleeves that didn't go very far past the shoulders. A piece of silver armor covered the woman's chest, and a plain gold rope served as her belt. On her feet, she wore a pair of armored boots made of a silver metal, and on each wrist was an ornate silver bracelet.

"Greetings, fairy swordswoman." The blonde spoke. "Welcome to Valhalla. I am Hilda, a Valkyrie."

"What am I doing here?" Asuna asked.

"You're here because you defeated the dark undersea god known as Cthulhu." Hilda answered. "For this, the Allfather wishes to speak with you."

"The Allfather?" Asuna repeated with a raised eyebrow.

"The king of the Aesir, Odin." Hilda explained. "He is very eager to see you. Come. We must not keep him waiting."

With that, Asuna started to follow Hilda down the hallway of the mysterious castle. She had no idea what was going on, but she was starting to get the feeling that she had suddenly become involved in something very big.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** This chapter was one of the most challenging battle scenes that I've written yet. I really had to put a lot of thought into how it was going to go. I hope that it wasn't too unrealistic for Asuna and the others to have been able to hold out against Cthulhu for as long as they did.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	6. The Riddle of Steel

**Author's Note:** I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed the previous chapter for their wonderful comments. That was one of the biggest battles in the story, so I'm happy to hear that I did a good job with it. Anyway, the title of this chapter is a reference to one of my favorite guilty pleasure movies, the 1970s version of _Conan the Barbarian_. Since that movie was referenced in the last story, I decided to reference it again in this one.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Sword Art Online.

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Chapter 6: The Riddle of Steel

Asuna followed Hilda up a flight of stone steps in the mysterious castle that she knew only as Valhalla. When the two of them reached the top, they arrived in a large chamber that appeared to be some sort of dining hall. There were round wooden tables everywhere in the room, and against the far wall on Asuna's left was a large and well-stocked bar manned by two other Valkyries, one with short dark-brown hair another with bright red hair tied back in a braided ponytail. The most notable feature of this dining hall though – besides the fact that it was totally empty except for the two Valkyrie barmaids – was that the end of it appeared to be some sort of balcony that showed a massive chamber walled with stone brick. Hilda escorted Asuna over to one of the tables by this balcony, allowing the blunette to get a much better look at the chamber beyond.

The gargantuan stone chamber was in fact a throne room, and at the end of the room on Asuna's left was a golden throne that was currently inhabited by a gigantic old man with long white hair and an even longer white beard that grew half way down his chest. The giant Santa-like figure was clad in white robes with a burgundy sash around his waist, and a golden plate covered his right eye. Asuna instantly recognized the giant as Odin, the king of the Norse Gods. The blunette had encountered Odin a few times before during the events leading up to the Donis incident, and it trouble Asuna to be meeting with the Norse God again because he was no ordinary NPC. Odin was an A.I. that the Cardinal System had created as a way to purge the Azathoth Virus from ALO before it completely overwrote the existing game with a world of Lovecraftian horrors. The fact that Asuna was meeting Odin again made her wonder if there was once again something terribly wrong with the game.

The dining hall's balcony made it so that Asuna was more or less at eye-level with Odin. Once the blunette had sat down, Hilda bowed to her and left the room.

After the blonde Valkyrie had left the room, Odin's silvery eye turned to look at Asuna. "Welcome, fairy swordswoman. It is a pleasure to see you once again."

"Why am I here?" Asuna asked.

"There will be time for that later." Odin told her. "For now, you must be famished after your glorious battle. Take this moment to eat and rest."

With that, Hilda returned carrying a silver and gold goblet and a large jug containing some sort of red wine. Following Hilda were two other Valkyries, one with long sky-blue hair and another with short pink hair. Each of the other two Valkyries was carrying a silver tray full of food. As Hilda set the goblet down in front of Asuna and filled it with wine, her two companions laid the trays out on the table. Soon after, another Valkyrie with long olive-green hair showed up and placed a basket full of some kind of bread on the table's center.

In moments, Hilda and her companions left, leaving the jug of wine on the table for Asuna to use if she wanted a refill. Spread out before Asuna on the wooden table was an assortment of food that was much too large for any single person to eat. One platter had various cuts of steak while another had an entire roast pig. There was also a bowl of mashed potatoes complete with a separate gravy boat, along with a platter of baked potatoes and some butter to go with it. There were also some bowls containing other vegetables such as carrots and peas. In short, the food was the type of assortment that one might expect to see as part of a Viking feast.

Realizing that her earlier battle with Cthulhu had made her extremely hungry, Asuna decided to go ahead and partake from the spread. A virtual meal was better than nothing. The blunette took one of the stakes, along with a loaf of bread, a small helping of the mashed potatoes, and some of the other vegetables. Before digging in, Asuna took a sip from the goblet of wine that Hilda had poured for her. The liquid had a sweet yet bitter taste and burned a trail down her throat. As for the rest of the meal, Asuna found the steak to be very well prepared, and the mashed potatoes that had been seasoned with some kind of herb that that had given them an extra kick of flavor. The other vegetables too had also been cooked to perfection, and there were a few moments that Asuna felt like she was indeed partaking in the food of the gods.

Odin at in patient silence as Asuna ate. During the meal, Asuna noticed that her HP gauge had gone back to a hundred percent. After several minutes, Asuna had practically cleaned her plate. As the blunette poured another glass of wine, she found herself wishing that the other members of her party had been there to enjoy the feast with her.

"I trust that you are now well-rested." Odin spoke upon seeing that Asuna was done. "To answer your earlier question, you were brought here because of your feat against the thing known as Cthulhu, the foul alien god who invaded this world from the stars. Though your battle was a costly one, in the end you were still able to slay the abhorrent god and even steal the book of his primal magic for yourself. For that feat, I've have decided to reward you."

"Reward me?" Asuna repeated. "With what?"

"Before that, you must first pass one final test to prove that you are indeed worthy of it." Odin told her. "You must answer the riddle of steel."

"Alright. What is this riddle?" Asuna asked.

Odin stood from his throne and paced around the room for a few moments with his hands behind his back as if collecting his thoughts. "Once, ages ago, there was a warrior of average strength. He slew many of the opponents who came before him, but none of his deeds were truly worthy of song. So the warrior sought out the greatest blacksmith in all the land and asked him to forge a sword that would make him strong enough to slay entire armies. Having received a hefty price, the blacksmith called upon all his knowledge and the primal magic of the earth itself and crafted an enchanted blade so great that it could bring armies to their knees.

"With this sword, in hand the warrior set out to carve his legend. The power of the sword allowed him to conquer entire kingdoms and slay legions of soldiers. Before long, people finally started to sing songs of his deeds. Then one day, a great champion known as Erik the Grey appeared before the warrior and challenged him to combat. During one of his conquests, the warrior had unknowingly slain one of Erik's friends. Thus, Erik wished to avenge his friend and challenged the warrior to battle using an average sword that even the most novice blacksmith could craft.

"So Erik and the warrior fought, and despite the power of the warrior's sword, Erik had been able to slay him easily. So my question to you is this, fairy swordswoman. If this warrior had been gifted with such a powerful sword, a sword that allowed him to make entire kingdoms bow at his feet, why then did he lose to Erik, who was wielding an ordinary old blade?"

Asuna pondered Odin's story for a few moments and suddenly recalled the dark time right after the SAO incident when her would-be suitor, Sugou Nobuyuki held her prisoner in the original version of ALO. At that time, Kirito had infiltrated the game and challenged Sugou to battle. Sugou's weapon in that fight had been the legendary sword, Excalibur, while Kirito meanwhile had only been armed with a piece of low-level battle gear. Despite the difference in weapon strength though, Kirito had been easily been able to defeat Sugou, and the thing that had decided that battle was that Kirito had been the more experienced player.

"In the end… a weapon is only is strong as the person using it." Asuna spoke.

Odin smiled and nodded. "It is not steel but flesh that contains the true power. I knew that you would know the answer to the riddle, being the consort of the one who wields both Excalibur and the Master's Blade. You have passed the final test, and thus have earned the reward I spoke of."

A flash of golden light appeared by Asuna, and when it faded she saw sword floating beside her. The weapon was a rapier made of a strange golden metal. The guard for the sword was styled like the upside-down petals of a rose and bore a ruby-red gemstone on the front. Carved down the side of the weapon's blade was some form of ancient writing that she recognized from one of Kirito's two most powerful weapons, the Master's Blade. Somewhat hesitantly, Asuna touched the blade and it vanished with another small flash of light. A second afterward, a screen appeared before the blunette that she had received an item called the Valkyrie's Rose.

"That sword was forged using the same metal and magic used to forge the Master's Blade." Odin told her. "As such, it has the same power as that ancient weapon. I know that you will wield it well, fairy swordswoman."

"Thank you." Asuna replied.

Odin nodded. "And now… because the hour has grown late, I shall return you home."

With that, a blinding flash of white light washed out the dining hall and Odin's throne room. When the light cleared, Asuna found herself standing outside the door to her cabin in New Aincrad. The blunette sighed and went into the little house. As Asuna prepared to finally log out, she couldn't help but wonder about the real reason why Odin had gifted her with that sword. While there was no way to tell for sure, getting that sword seemed like a sign that another major threat to ALO was on the horizon.

* * *

It was a breezy yet calm afternoon as Asuna relaxed on a bench at her favorite park in the real world. The whole time, her mind had been on the battle with Cthulhu, meeting Odin again, and upon other things like the upcoming Clash of Queens tournament. Earlier that day, Asuna found that she had gotten messages from everyone who had gone on the raid against Cthulhu except for Rika. All of the messages basically told Asuna not to feel bad about how the battle had gone down. An Si-eun had even told Asuna that she felt like they had all let her down, but Asuna felt like that she was the one who had let everyone else down. In the end, the quest against Cthulhu had not gone the way she had wanted.

"I thought I'd fine you here." A very familiar voice spoke.

Asuna looked up, and standing a few feet away to her right was a young man with dark hair, wearing a black leather jacket with a grey-furred collar over a dark-blue shirt, along with a pair of grey jeans and a pair of black sneakers. This was Asuna's boyfriend, Kazuto Kirigaya, known in the virtual worlds as Kirito. Asuna instantly got off of the bench and ran over to him.

"Boy, am I glad to see you!" Asuna told Kazuto as she pulled him into a tight hug.

"Klein told me a little bit about what happened yesterday." Kazuto revealed. "You doing okay?"

"Better now." Asuna answered. "I'll fill you in on the rest of what happened… and on a few other things too."

With that, Asuna and Kazuto went back over to the bench and sat back down. Asuna then told her boyfriend about her encounter with Nytokris and how she and the others had gone on the quest to unlock R'lyeh. She also told him about how the battle with Cthulhu had ended, and about meeting Odin and getting that new sword.

"Odin showing up like that after the battle is pretty weird." Kirito remarked after Asuna had finished her story. "And you said that you had already gotten an item when you actually finished Cthulhu off?"

"Yeah. So I don't know why Odin would just give me a new sword like that." Asuna replied. "I'm a bit worried about what this might mean. What if the Azathoth Virus wasn't really destroyed?"

"Whatever's going on, I'm sure we can figure out it." Kazuto assured her. "In the meantime, there's really no point in worrying about it."

"You're right." Asuna replied. "Right now, I just wish that the battle against Cthulhu had gone better. I was really hoping that quest could bring us back together again. You know how everyone's sort of drifted apart since the Donis incident. I thought that maybe fighting a boss like that together would help us reunite, but instead I think it did kind of the opposite. Or at least it did with Rika. She's the only one I never heard back from."

"I guess Liz is still having a hard time getting over how Donis tricked her." Kazuto assumed. "I know Sugu still seems to be."

"…You know in the end, I think my real reasons for going on that raid were a little more selfish." Asuna admitted. "After the way Nytokris beat me, I wanted to prove to myself that I was still strong. So I went after one of the strongest monsters in the game. I guess… the fact that I was still able to just barely beat Cthulhu in the end proves that I haven't lost my edge."

"Asuna, you're one of the strongest people I know." Kazuto told her as he gently brushed his thumb against her cheek. "Losing a single battle to a bitchy player like Nytokris won't change that. In fact, you're probably a stronger person than I could ever be."

Asuna gave Kazuto a small smile and leaned in to give him a kiss on the lips. The kiss quickly deepened, and before the two of them totally realized it their tongues were grinding against one another. When they finally broke for air, Asuna took a quick look around the park and found that the place seemed to be completely vacant. The redhead then took Kazuto's hand and pulled him off the bench. In moments, Asuna had led Kazuto to a large shady tree atop a small hill in the center of the park.

"Why'd you take us over here?" Kazuto asked.

Asuna took another quick look around to make sure they were totally alone. "I want you to nail me right here against this tree."

Kazuto's face turned a deep red. "S-Seriously? But… what if someone sees us?"

"I don't think there's any danger of that right now." Asuna assured him. "Kazuto… I really need you right now."

Kazuto could never say no to the pouting look that Asuna was giving him at the moment. The dark-haired boy finally nodded in agreement and the two of them became locked in another deep open-mouthed kiss. Minutes later as they finally broke for air, Asuna unzipped the fly of Kazuto's jeans and reached in to pull out his hardened manhood. Kazuto let out a deep groan as Asuna stroked the rod in her hand, causing him to lose more of his self-control as she rubbed it up and down. After a few moments, Asuna finally let go and lifted up her skirt as she leaned against the side of the tree.

Unable to hold back, Kazuto pushed the crotch of Asuna's panties aside and shoved his rock-hard member into her womanhood. Asuna quickly clamped her legs around Kazuto's waist and grabbed on tightly to his shoulders as her lover started to pound into her. In that moment, neither of them cared whether or not anybody caught them in the middle of doing it in the great outdoors. A blissful eternity seemed to go by before Kazuto felt Asuna's inner walls tightening around him. Then in the same sweet moment that Kazuto climaxed and released his hot seed into his lover, Asuna was rocked by her orgasm and all the tension from the last few days was blown away.

As the two lovers came down from their high, they smiled as they leaned their foreheads against one another.

"I can't believe we just did that." Asuna whispered.

"We can continue this at my place if you want." Kazuto offered. "Nobody else there will be home for hours."

"Okay." Asuna agreed.

After the two shared another light kiss on the lips, Kazuto pulled out of Asuna and zipped up his fly. Soon after, the two of them walked hand-in-hand to Kazuto's place.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I apologize if Asuna seemed a bit OOC at the end if this chapter for wanting an outdoor quickie. It was just kind of a hot scene when I first thought of it though, so I just couldn't help but work it into this story.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	7. Black Goat of the Woods

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Sword Art Online, nor do I own the works of H.P. Lovecraft.

* * *

Chapter 7: Black Goat of the Woods

It was the middle of the afternoon as Sugu returned home from kendo practice. While her school was on its own break like Asuna's and Sinon's, her kendo club was still having meetings during the break in order to get ready for an upcoming tournament. Practice had let out early that afternoon though, so Sugu had simply decided to go home and unwind. As Sugu reached the upstairs hallway, she suddenly heard moaning and the unmistakable sound of a bed creaking coming from one of the rooms. Against her better judgment, the dark-haired girl followed the sounds to the door to Kazuto's room.

The door to Kazuto's room was open a crack, and from it Sugu could see a nude Asuna bouncing on top of her equally naked brother. By the time Sugu had arrived, Asuna's movements had started to become much wilder, and the dark-haired girl found that she couldn't help but watch as the couple inside the room hit their climax at the same time. Sugu quickly yet quietly closed the door just as Asuna had started to dismount Kazuto. Closing her eyes, Sugu leaned against the wall next to the door and slid down to the floor. Seeing Kazuto and Asuna getting it on like that reminded her of her time with Donis and how they had once often made passionate love as the couple in the room had just done.

In many ways, Sugu was still mourning the loss of Donis. The pain had been lessening over time, but the wound was still very deep. Sugu had to admit that she still hadn't quite yet moved on. Suddenly Sugu could once again hear the sound of Kazuto's bed creaking against the floor inside the room, signaling that the lovers were going at it again. Sugu got up from the floor and went to her room so that she could log into ALO and kill something.

* * *

In a clear remote meadow on the edge of salamander territory, Leafa was facing off against a large creature that was an odd combination of rooster and dragon. Its body was chicken-like, yet had membranous wings and was covered in red scales. The creature's eyes also glowed like a pair of green flames. The monster that Leafa was facing at that moment was a low-level field boss known as the Cockatrice King. It had taken only an hour and a half for Leafa's to get the dragon foul's HP down to a red sliver.

The dragon rooster opened its beak and attempted to blast Leafa with a stream of orange flames. Leafa easily dodged the attack and flew forward with her wings towards the creature. The beast fired beams of green light from its eyes as Leafa came closer, but the blonde fairy easily evaded each attack. Once Leafa was in range, she slashed the dragon rooster's neck with her sword, dropping its HP to zero and severing its head. The Cockatrice King's body shattered into blue polygons, and the standard congratulatory message appeared in the air. At the same time, a holographic screen appeared in front of Leafa, informing her that she had received the slain creature's head as an item. As revolting as it was, Leafa actually needed the head to fulfill the requirements of a quest that would grant her a certain rare item.

"Not bad!" a voice suddenly commented. "But I would think that fighting a low-level monster like that would be beneath someone of your talents."

Leafa turned around, and standing a few feet away was an imp woman with long silver hair.

"It was kind of a lame boss, but I needed to beat it in order to finish up this one quest I'm on." Leafa replied. "I don't think I've seen you before."

"The name's Nytokris." The imp woman informed her. "And while you may not know me, I know quite a bit about you, Leafa. They say you're one of the strongest sylph warriors around."

"I do pretty okay." Leafa replied. "There are others in the game who're better than me."

"There's no need to be modest." Nytokris told the blonde as she came closer. "You've accomplished some pretty great things. Rumor is that you were part of the quest to obtain the legendary Excalibur, and you even played key roles in battles against some of the Great Old Ones like Tsathoggua and Yig. The thing is though is that it seems like you've dropped out of sight a bit recently."

"I've, uh… I've sort of been dealing with the death of my boyfriend this past month." Leafa admitted. "Do you want something from me, or are you just a really big fan?"

"I'm putting together a raiding party and was hoping I could recruit you." Nytokris explained. "We're going up against another one of the Great Old Ones. Specifically, we're going after Shub-Niggurath, also known as The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young. Seeing as how you've tangled with some of the other Great Old Ones in the past, I thought you might be able to give us an edge. So, interested?"

"I don't know… for one thing, this is the first time we've met." Leafa pointed out. "Besides, I tangled with another one of the Great Old Ones just yesterday and got totally thrashed. I'm not sure I'm willing to go up against another one so soon."

"Think about it. That's all I ask." Nytokris told her. "If you change your mind, my party is meeting will be meeting in a village in spriggan territory called Blackleaf here in about an hour. Look for a tavern called The Brittle Tree."

With that, Nytokris flew off into the sky. After a moment, Leafa flew off as well to go turn in the cockatrice head to finish up the quest she had been on. As she flew, the blonde couldn't help but think about Nytokris' request. Leafa had to admit that the quest sounded a little interesting, and that she wasn't quite ready to log out. Playing the game had actually helped Leafa take her mind off of Donis for the first time instead of reminding her of all the times they had spent together, but now she needed something else in the game to do. Plus she found that she didn't want to go back and risk hearing more sounds of her brother and Asuna getting it on again. In the end, Leafa decided to finish the quest she was on and go to join Nytokris' raiding party.

* * *

The sun was beginning to set in ALO as Leafa arrived at the small town of Blackleaf on the outskirts of spriggan territory. It didn't take the blonde fairy long to find the tavern known as the Brittle Tree, and when she went inside she felt like she had just entered a medieval dive bar. The lights of the little tavern were dim, and all of the players inside had a very shady quality to them. Looking around, Leafa saw at least twenty-two spriggan players, with nine of them being men and the other thirteen being women. In the dim far corner of the tavern on Leafa's left, she saw a group of fifteen gnome players; all of them men and all of them quite burly, with at least half the group having some kind of facial hair. Meanwhile at the opposite corner of the establishment was a group of eighteen female cait siths; all of them armed with bows and arrows, and half of them wearing black masks. Leafa assumed that the group was trying to imitate Sinon.

Split between two round wooden tables towards the front of the tavern was a group of twelve undine players consisting of eight men and four women. Leafa couldn't help but notice that this particular group of undine players all bore nautical-looking tattoos on their arms and faces. All grouped together at the back of the building were twenty imps that were an even mix of men and women. Right away, Leafa noticed Nytokris sitting at the very center of the bar. Leafa assumed that the group sitting at the bar was the raiding party and approached.

"Well, here I am." Leafa spoke, getting Nytokris' attention. "That offer to join your raid still good?"

"It certainly is." Nytokris answered. "I had a feeling you'd show up. Glad I was right."

"So… just who else is joining us for this raid?" Leafa asked.

Nytokris chuckled. "You haven't figured it out yet? Every single person in this bar is going to be on the raid! And now that you're here, we can finally start to get ready."

"It's about damn time, Nytokris!" a voice interrupted. "I was starting to get real tired of just sitting here on my ass."

Walking up to Leafa and Nytokris was a male spriggan player with slightly long dark hair and a sort of black tribal-looking tattoo around his right eye. He had on a sleeveless black shirt under a piece of dark-grey armor covering his chest and back, along with black jeans and boots, and a pair of fingerless black gloves. More tattoos decorated the young man's well-toned upper arms, and slung across his back was a one-handed sword with a black handle and a silver skull decorating the end.

"Leafa, this Xavier." Nytokris informed the blonde. "He helped me get this little party together."

Xavier smirked upon seeing Leafa. "When Nytokris told me that she was going to try and rope in one of the top sylph players in the game, she didn't say how cute she was going to be. It's a pleasure having you aboard."

"Um, thank you." Leafa replied with a slight blush. She had to admit that Xavier was actually quite handsome.

"So, you got the right gear for a boss fight like this, right?" Xavier asked. "We are going up against a Great Old One, ya know. A normal sword like the one you're sporting won't do much on this raid."

"Oh crap! I don't have a tok'l-metal sword anymore!" Leafa recalled.

"It's no problem." Xavier assured her. "I actually have a tok'l-metal katana you can have. I got it from this player blacksmith for cheap earlier this morning. In fact she seemed eager to get rid of it."

With that, Xavier called up his menu screen, and a few moments later a sheathed katana appeared in his hand with a flash of blue light. Leafa took the weapon and wondered if it had been the sword that Lisbeth had forged for her before the battle against Cthulhu. The blonde couldn't help but feel a bit guilty about not accepting the weapon before, especially after how mad Lisbeth had gotten about it.

"I bought the sword because it seemed kinda cool, but it's not really the type of weapon I'm most skilled with. Xavier continued. "Consider it my little welcoming gift."

"Thank you." Leafa replied.

"I had a feeling that you two would get along." Nytokris remarked. "Now then, let's get this show on the road!"

Nytokris then called to every other player in the room and the place fell silent. In moments, all eyes were on the silver-haired imp.

"Okay! So, I think we all know why were here." Nytokris began. "If anyone has any questions though, you better ask them now."

"I actually have a question." Leafa spoke as she raised her hand. "I know we're going up against a Great Old One, but just what is this Shub-Niggurath thing anyway?"

"Mind if I field that one?" one of the bearded gnome players in the corner of the tavern asked.

"Go ahead, Brutus." Xavier told him. "Wow us."

The gnome known as Brutus nodded before getting to his feet. "The entity known as Shub-Niggurath in the Cthulhu Mythos is thought to be some sort of fertility goddess, though nobody can say for sure due to the fact that she's only been mentioned by name in the original literature. She has the title of The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young, but no one can say for sure if she truly has the form of a goat, or if she has another form entirely."

"I know this guy IRL." Xavier whispered to Leafa. "He's a total nerd, but a really good tank here."

"In this case, the whole goat description seems to be pretty accurate." Nytokris spoke. "Other parties have gone in to fight this thing and have had their butts handed to them. Everyone who's gone up against this thing says that it really is some kind of goat monster. Xavier, I'll leave giving out the details to you."

"Okay. So according to the info I was able to get, Shub-Niggurath is a pretty nasty boss." Xavier began. "She only has three bars of health and apparently a pretty average defensive stat, but she's got mobs protecting her to make up for it. Word is that she's able to summon those Thousand Young of hers to fight for her. Plus, Shub-Niggurath seems to have an immunity to fire magic, which is why we don't have any salamander players here with us tonight."

"Hey Xavier! How do we know this info of yours is legit?" asked a female spriggan with long dark hair tied in a ponytail and a black teardrop tattoo on her left cheek.

"Well Strife, considering how much I had to pay for this info, I'm going with the idea that it's a hundred percent legit." Xavier answered. "Of course if it's not legit at all, a certain info broker I know is gonna get totally thrashed later."

"Well if we get killed on this raid, then you better save a piece of that broker for me." Strife told him. "Once I get through with him, he'll go from being a broker to just plain broken."

Practically everyone else in the tavern laughed in response to Strife's comment, everyone that was except for Leafa. She was really starting to feel like she had joined the wrong crowd.

"Okay. Shub-Niggurath's lair is in a secret cavern here in spriggan territory." Nytokris spoke. "The cavern leads down to a place known as the Woods of Eternal Night. Now then, here's how this raid is going to go. My fellow imps and I will focus on taking out Shub-Niggurath, since we're the only ones who can fly inside a cave. You cait sith archers will give us cover from the ground. Undines, I don't think I need to tell you that your job will be to heal the rest of us when we need it. As for the rest of you, your job will be to take on whatever the hell these Thousand Young things are. Now that everyone knows what we're going to be doing, let's get out there!"

Most of the other raiding party members cheered, and in moments the players flooded out of the bar and took to the sky. As the massive gang of players flew to the cavern, Leafa couldn't help but feel out of place with everyone else. The undine players looked like a band of undersea pirates, the gnomes seemed almost like a biker gang, all the cait sith Sinon-wannabes were likely mercenaries, and all of the other players in the raiding party just seemed plain shady. Leafa found that Nytokris especially seemed like bad news, yet there was something about the silver-haired imp that she was just drawn to.

"So, looks like you and I have mob duty together." Xavier told Leafa as he flew closer to her. "Kinda sucks, huh?"

"Yeah, but I guess it can't really be helped." Leafa replied. "Besides, mob duty is pretty important too."

"True enough." Xavier agreed. "Well, even if this boss battle ends up being a drag for us, we'll still have a blast during the after party."

"After party?" Leafa repeated with a raised eyebrow.

"You'll find out." Xavier told her with a wide grin. "For now though, we better keep on our toes. The word is the Thousand Young are supposed to be pretty nasty."

Within a few minutes, Leafa and the rest of the small army of players arrived at the entrance to a cave in the side of a large hill. The raiding party went in and wound up in a long dark tunnel that seemed to stretch on into infinity. For several minutes the players marched downward further and further into the earth. The deeper they got, the more the light faded and soon they had entered an absolute darkness. Leafa couldn't help but be reminded of when she had first gone down into the underground city of N'kai with Donis; how they had entered a forbidden world that should never have been disturbed. Now it seemed to Leafa that history was repeating itself with this raid. The blonde was really starting to believe that she should not have joined in this raid.

Eventually the army exited the tunnel and entered a massive cavern lit by some sort of bluish-grey phosphorescent moss that was growing on the ground. The moss was bright enough to reveal that a dense and seemingly endless forest of strange-looking leafless trees. The same glowing moss from the ground grew on parts of the trees as well, making them totally visible in the darkness. The ceiling of the cavern meanwhile was so high up that it couldn't be seen at all, making it seem as though the forest was under a starless night sky.

"This place is nuts!" Xavier remarked as they headed into the forest. "Now I get why they call these the Woods of Eternal Night."

Eventually the players reached what appeared to be the center of the forest and came upon what looked to be a massive nest made of twigs. Inside the nest were piles and piles of large egg-like objects. The eggs were about six feet in height and had black shells with green flecks. Before anyone could guess about what it was they were looking at, a sound like a horrid human scream broke through the darkness. The players looked up, and flying down from the darkness above was a gigantic creature that did indeed seem goat-like, but was hardly a goat at all.

The goat creature that had appeared had three heads, each with a pair of glowing red eyes that had a mindless quality to them. Instead of fur, the beast was covered in shiny black reptilian scales. On its back was a large pair of membranous wings like those of a bat or a dragon, and growing from its rear were three cord-like tails that ended with a point like the tail of a demon. As the thing let out another horrid scream, three HP gauges appeared next to its body. Appearing above the beast's central head in white letters soon after was the name, Shub-Niggurath.

"Looks like its showtime!" Nytokris observed as she drew her sword. "Let's take this bitch out!"

With that, Nytokris and her fellow imp plays took to the air and came at Shub-Niggurath from the front. Before the squadron could get in range though, the goat-like abomination opened the mouth of her central head and fired an intense beam of purgatorial green light. Nytokris and the other imps managed to fly out of the beams path, but the attack continued on towards the ground and struck a cluster of the players that had been standing behind Leafa and Xavier. Fortunately the beam attack had only taken those players' HP into the low, and the group of undines that were on the raiding party had quickly been able to heal them. Meanwhile though, Shub-Niggurath fired another beam of light from the mouth of her right head, followed soon after by another beam from her left head.

The players were able to quickly dodge both beam attacks and Nytokris' squadron took to attacking Shub-Niggurath from the rear and from the sides, with the cait sith archers providing support from the ground. Just as the battle was really starting to get going though, Shuh-Niggurath let out a horrid scream that echoed throughout the cavern. Suddenly a large number of the eggs that were in the nest that the players had first found began to hatch. Bursting out of the eggs were several horrid creatures resembling goat fetuses covered in slimy black scales. They had mindless glowing red eyes and tiny stubs on their bodies that were the beginnings of legs. Each creature had a small pair of bat-like wings on its back that were too small for their bodies, yet they were somehow able to fly nonetheless. Most of these fetal goat creatures flew straight towards the players on the ground; occasionally firing beams of green energy form their mouths as they came.

Leafa was able to quickly dispatch one of the wretched hatchlings with four strikes from her sword. She was thankful that the creature's only had a single HP gauge. Xavier meanwhile had easily been able to take out two of the beasts at once. A few of the goat fetus creatures had flown up towards Nytokris and the members of her squadron, but the cait sith archers had easily been able to take them out from the ground. It was almost an hour before Leafa and the other ground units had been able to eliminate all of the hatchlings. Meanwhile, Nytokris and her fellow imps had only gotten Shub-Niggurath's forst HP gauge down to half. Just as the players on the ground were about to take a breather, Shub-Niggurath let out another horrid scream and more of her young hatched from their eggs and went on the attack.

"Jeez! These things are nasty!" Xavier declared as he cut into one of the attacking fetal goats. "I never imagined that these Thousand Young would anything like this!"

"This is worse than when I helped fight Tsathoggua!" Leafa remarked as she finished off another hatchling. "Those black blobs he summoned to battle were pretty bad, but they weren't nearly as bad as these things!"

The battle raged on for another four hours. When the players on the ground didn't have to deal with the seemingly endless waves of hatchlings that Shub-Niggurath kept calling from her nest, they had to avoid the energy beams being fired from the mother goat horror's three mouths. A few of the spriggan players and at least two of the gnomes ended up getting taken out of the battle by some of the hatchlings by the time Nytokris and the other imps had gotten Shub-Niggurath down to a quarter of her final HP gauge. It was at least another twenty-two minutes by the time the imp squadron had gotten the wretched goat mother's HP down into the red zone. By that time, most of the ground units in the raiding party were starting to run out of steam.

"Everyone else, stay back!" Nytokris ordered. "I'm finishing this myself!"

With that, Nytokris flew in and struck Shub-Niggurath in the side with her Queen's Punisher attack. The three-headed monstrosity's HP dropped to zero and its body shattered to polygons. Many of the hatchlings had been fighting at the time shattered into polygons as well. As the standard congratulatory message for defeating a boss monster appeared in the air, many of the players on the ground began to cheer. Meanwhile, a holographic screen appeared in front of Nytokirs, causing her to smirk.

After the silver-haired him landed with the rest of her squadron, Nytokris called up her menu screen. Materializing on her upper right arm with a flash of blue light was a black metal ring styled to look like a serpent with the head of a goat. Small red gems had been fitted into the goat head's eyes.

"Looks like we didn't lose too many people." Xavier reported to Nytokris as he approached with Leafa. "So, shall we kick off the after party?"

"Of course!" Nytokris replied. "These people deserve a good time after all the work they just put in."

"Wait, we're having this party here?" a surprised Leafa asked. "Isn't that kinda dangerous?"

"Relax. The only monsters that are in this cave are Shub-Niggurath and those kids of hers, and they won't respawn for at least a few weeks." Xavier assured her.

"I don't know…" Leafa began. "This still doesn't seem like the best place to have a party."

"Oh lighten up, Leafa." Nytokris told her. "Sometimes you just have to cut loose. Otherwise, what's the point of living?"

Within a few short minutes, the gnome known as Brutus started up a large fire right there in front of the nest. Many of the players gathered around the fire and began laughing and talking with one another, every now and then passing around a jug containing some kind of wine. The whole time though, Leafa had been standing against one of the weird trees of the underground forest. She found that she just couldn't get into the party mood, probably because the other players in the raiding party just weren't her type of crowd. The blonde found herself wondering why she had agreed to come on the raid in the first place.

Suddenly Leafa saw almost all the other players around the fire call up their menu screens. There were flashes of blue light all around the camp sight, and seconds later almost every member of the raiding party was completely nude. Before Leafa could figure out what was going on, she saw two of the undine women in the party making out with each other. Only a few feet away from them Strife, the spriggan woman who had spoken up at the bar, was on the ground on her back and being plowed by a slender male imp player with light purple hair. Meanwhile just a few feet from where they were, a redheaded cait sith archer was on all fours and being plowed from behind by Brutus. Leafa quickly realized that just about every player in the raiding party was having sex right there in the cavern. A few of these encounters even seemed to involve more than two people.

As this spectacle of flesh unfolded, Leafa saw Nytokris just sitting there on a large rock, completely nude except for her tiara and the goat serpent ring on her upper arm, smiling at the whole thing. Suddenly an undine woman with shoulder-length blue hair crawled up on all fours to Nytokris and began to suck on her left breast. Soon after, a female spriggan with long straight dark hair that went down past her back crawled up and began to suck on the silver-haired imp woman's other large breast. At the same time, the spriggan woman insirted two fingers into Nytokris' womanhood. Nytorkis let out a soft moan as she gently held onto the undine girl's head.

Nytokris then noticed Leafa watching and beckoned the blonde to come over with her right hand. Leafa started to back away, only to gasp when she felt a pair of hands take her shoulders. The blonde looked back to see that it was Xavier, who was thankfully still fully clothed.

"I think she wants us to join her." Xavier told Leafa in a husky whisper. "You're a tense one, you know that? Just relax and let yourself go."

Suddenly Xavier began to suck on Leafa's neck. Leafa quickly broke free of the spriggan's grip and turned to face him.

"Sorry! This, uh… this just isn't my kind of thing!" Leafa told him as her face turned bright red.

With that, Leafa began to quickly but calmly walk out of the clearing. At one point she glanced back and saw that Xavier had since removed all his clothes and had gone over to Nytokris and her two attendants. Leafa then began to run out of the forest as fast as her legs could carry her. Before long, she made it back to that corridor of darkness that she and the others had first come through and spent several minutes running in complete darkness. Eventually Leafa finally made it back to the surface and took to the night sky on her wings.

* * *

It was morning as Sugu walked the streets to a special meeting of her kendo club. The dark-haired girl hoped very much that practice for the upcoming tournament would help take her mind off of what happened after the boss battle. As Sugu headed down the sidewalk, she saw Shino come towards her from the opposite direction with anther girl who she didn't recognize.

"Oh! Hey Suguha." Shino spoke as they reached each other. "This is a surprise."

"Sure is." Sugu replied. "I see you're not out alone?"

"Oh right. Suguha, I'd like you to meet a good friend of mine from school, Nakuru Kitamori."

"Charmed." Nakuru spoke. "Shino didn't tell me that she had such a cute friend. How do you two know each other?"

"It's kind of a long story." Sugu answered. "Let's just say we met online."

"Well Shino and I were just on our way to do some shopping." Nakuru revealed. "How 'bout you come join us?"

"Sorry, I'm kinda busy." Sugu replied. "Right now I've got kendo practice to get to."

"Well blow it off! It wouldn't hurt you to miss one session, would it?" Nakuru asked. "Sometimes you just have to cut loose. Otherwise, what's the point of living?"

Nakuru's words sent a chill down Sugu's spine. "Uh, sorry. I really have to go. My instructor would kill me if I cut practice."

"Well… okay. Some other time then?" Nakuru asked.

"…Yeah. Sure." Sugu answered.

With that, Sugu continued on her way to practice while Shino and Nakuru went off on their shopping trip. Sugu couldn't help but be a little freaked out because Nakuru had used the exact words that Nytokris had used with her just before the orgy in that forest cavern. As the more Sugu thought about it, she also realized that Nakuru's voice was almost exactly the same Nytokris' voice, almost as if they were the same person. Sugu wondered if she had just met Nytokris' real world alter ego. If that had indeed been the case, Sugu decided that she probably wouldn't go shopping with Nakuru and Shino anytime soon.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I had to take a little bit of artistic license with the Cthulhu Mythos deity that appeared in this chapter. It turns out that Shub-Niggurath is a deity that's only ever been mentioned by name as part of certain rituals in some of Lovecraft's original stories and has never actually appeared. In fact according to Wikipedia, some scholars seems to think that the title, Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young refers to a completely separate entity. Some people believe that this entity is in fact a male consort to Shub-Niggurath. Of course there are others who believe that the "Black Goat" is a male avatar that Shub-Niggurath takes as a way to mate with her female worshippers.

In any case, I decided to take the whole Black Goat thing literally. I even made Shub-Niggurath into one of those goats that makes a sound like a human scream instead of the regular "baahh" noise. Those types of goats are just freaky.

Anyway, I apologize if this chapter wasn't the best one in the story. The main purpose was to try and show just what kind of character Nytokris was. In the next chapter, things will get a little back on track. The actual Clash of Queens tournament is just around the corner.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	8. Day of Selection

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Sword Art Online, nor do I own the worlds of H.P. Lovecraft.

* * *

Chapter 8: Day of Selection

With nothing but free time on their hands, Asuna and Kirito had logged back into ALO that morning to test out the power of Asuna's new sword. Before they were to meet up with Klein and a few of the others to go into the dungeons beneath the Mound in imp territory, the couple had decided to spend some time alone at their cabin in New Aincrad. They had a light brunch in the game with their virtual daughter, Yui and spent some time catching up on some of the other things that each happened to them while Kirito was away. Kirito mostly talked about some of the things that Kirito had learned at that technical conference he was at, and Asuna found most of what he talked about to be quite fascinating, even though there were a few things that had gone over her head. When they had finally finished eating, the three of them had gone over to the couch.

After a few minutes of cuddling against Kirito on the couch, Asuna began to feel a bit restless. "Yui, could you give me and your dad some time alone?"

"Sure, Mommy." Yui replied, and with that the little dark-haired pixie vanished with a flash of blue light.

"What's up?" Kirito asked with a raised eyebrow.

Asuna merely smiled and gave Kirito a deep passionate kiss on the lips. Kirito returned the kiss, and soon their tongues were once again battling one another for dominance. After they were forced to break apart for air, Asuna moved onto Kirito's lap and began to grind her hips against him as she gave him another fiery kiss. Eventually Kirito began to kiss and suck on Asuna's neck and grope her left breast through the blue sweater she was wearing as she continued to grind into his lap. After another few minutes, Asuna called up her menu screen and in a flash of blue light was down to her powder-blue bra and panties.

Kirito called up his own screen in response and caused the long-sleeved black shirt he was wearing to vanish. They continued to make out like this for several minutes, with the bulge in Kirito's pants becoming ever more pronounced as they continued. Before long, Asuna couldn't take anymore and called up her menu again, causing her undergarments to disappear. Kirito quickly did the same thing, and in seconds he was completely nude as well. Asuna moaned as she slid down onto Kirito's hardened member and began to bounce up and down on top of him.

As the blunette rode him, Kirito would suck on Asuna's neck while massaging her breast with his right hand. Eventually they could both feel themselves coming close to the edge, and after another sweet eternity, Asuna held Kirito close as they managed to hit their climax at the same time. Asuna let out a silent scream as her orgasm rocked her body. The two of them remained in that position for several moments as they caught their breath.

"Boy! You've been pretty frisky ever since I got back." Kirito remarked.

"I'm just really happy to see you." Asuna replied before giving him a peck on the forehead. "And… I guess I needed to let off a bit of steam just now. I'm a little nervous because they're announcing the competitors who made it into the Clash of Queens tournament today. I'm not sure if I've made the cut."

"You kidding? With the way you took down Cthulhu on your own, there's no way you won't be named as one of the top thirty-two players who entered." Kirito assured her.

"Yeah, but that was just one battle." Asuna pointed out. "I know that Cthulhu is probably one of the strongest Great Old Ones in the game, but I'm sure that beating him alone won't be enough."

"We'll find out for sure when they make the announcement later this afternoon." Kirito told her. "For now, how 'bout we go try out that new sword of yours?"

"Sound like a plan." Asuna agreed. "I'm sure we've kept Siune and the others waiting too long already."

With that, the two of them got up from the couch and got dressed in their usual battle outfits. Once Yui had reappeared, the three of them left their cabin and took to the sky. After the trio had left New Aincrad, they headed to a small inn near the location of the Mound. When Kirito and Asuna arrived, Agil and Silica were waiting in the lobby. When they arrived, Yui flew over to meet with Silica's dragon. Before long, Pina was flying around the room with Yui riding on her back.

"Sorry if we kept you guys waiting." Kirito told the others.

"It's cool man. Actually, Klein and Siune have been the ones keeping us waiting." Agil revealed. "We've been waiting on 'em for half an hour now."

"Have they just not shown up?" Asuna asked.

"Actually they've been here at the inn this whole time." Silica revealed. "When Pina and I got here, I saw them going back towards one of the rooms. It didn't seem like they noticed me."

"I'll go grab them." Kirito decided.

"I'll come with." Asuna told him. "Yui, you stay here with Silica and the others."

"Kay!" Yui replied as she did another pass around the room on Pina.

A few moments later, Kirito and Asuna had come to the door of one of the rooms at the end of the hall. Finding that the door was unlocked, Kirito realized that they had found the correct room, as inn rooms were normally unlocked to other members of the same quest party.

"Maybe we should knock first?" Asuna suggested.

"Please, what could those two possibly be doing" Kirito replied as he opened the door.

In answer to Kirito's question, the couple saw a totally naked Siune bent forward and clinging to the dresser in the room with her hands while a nude Klein plowed into her from behind. Both of their bodies were covered in sweat.

"Oh god! Keep going!" Siune cried. "I'm almost there!"

"Hang on! Here it comes!" Klein called out.

In that same second Siune and Klein both climaxed. As the nude couple caught their breath, they glanced towards the door and saw Kirito and Asuna standing in the doorway. The younger couple was totally frozen, both their faces were bright red and their jaws were hanging open wide enough to let a convoy of semi trucks through. Klein and Siune's faces quickly turned a bright shade of red as well.

"What the hell! Don't you two know how to knock?" Klein shouted.

"S-Sorry!" Kirito responded.

"Uh… we'll uh… we'll give you two a few minutes." A flustered Asuna told them as she closed the door.

"What the hell was that?" Kirito exclaimed.

"You dummy! I told you we should've knocked first!" Asuna told him in a loud whisper.

"Did you know about those two seeing each other like that?" Kirito asked.

"No!" Asuna answered. "I mean I noticed that they seemed a little friendlier with one another at Agil's when we were planning the R'lyeh quest, but I didn't know they had gotten that close!"

At that moment, Agil came running up to Kirito and Asuna in the hallway. As the bald man caught his breath, he noticed how flustered the couple seemed.

"Aw shit! You saw Klein and Siune humping, didn't you?" Agil deduced.

"You knew about this?" Asuna asked.

"We'll not really." Agil answered as he rubbed the back of his head. "I mean I wondered if there wasn't something going on between Klein and Siune, but it didn't occur to me that those two might be getting it on back here until like a minute after Silica said she saw them go back to one of the rooms."

"You could've been a little quicker figuring that out!" Kirito exclaimed.

"Sorry man. I was kinda thinking about something else at the time." Agil replied.

A moment later, a fully dressed Klein and Siune emerged from the room. Siune and Klein's faces were still both bright red.

"So… that happened." Klein spoke as he rubbed the back of his head.

"We're sorry we just barged in on you two like that." Asuna told them. "Right Kirito?"

"…Let's just go to that damn mound." Kirito grumbled with a look of disgust as he walked off.

Within a few more moments, the party left the inn and took to the sky and few off toward the Mound. After a few minutes of awkward silence, Asuna flew back to have a word with Siune.

"Um… sorry about what you saw before, Asuna." Siune told her.

"Don't worry about it. It was mine and Kirito's fault for just barging in." Asuna assured her. "So… how long has this thing between you and Klein been going on?"

"Oh, for about a couple of months now." Siune answered. "We'd actually run into each other a lot IRL and would just hang out. It turned out that we had a lot of the same interests and eventually we just… clicked. Of course it didn't start to get physical between us until after the Cthulhu battle. I overreacted a little when Klein got killed off in the battle and went to his apartment to see if he was okay. You can kinda guess what happened from there."

"I'm happy for you, Siune." Asuna told her. "Klein's a bit of a perv, but he's a really good guy. You deserve someone like him."

"Thanks." Siune replied.

"But, if he does anything stupid to hurt you, just let me know." Asuna added. "I'll make sure he experiences a world of pain."

"Sure thing." Siune responded with a slight chuckle.

A few feet ahead in the aerial formation, Kirito and Klein were having a very similar conversation.

"So, you and Siune." Kirito spoke. "I have to say that I never saw that coming."

"What can I say? She's cute." Klein replied with a shrug. "Not to mention a really fun and strong person. I'm pretty lucky to have met her."

"You've got a good thing going. Just don't do anything to screw it up." Kirito told him.

"Don't worry, man." Klein replied with a thumbs-up. "I've got this."

It was a few more minutes by the time Kirito and the others reached the massive flat-topped bump in the earth that had become known as the Mound. The landmark was the first ever area based on the stories of H.P. Lovecraft ever to appear in ALO. The team landed on the top entered the small square opening in the top of the Mound that would take them into the underground cities beneath it. Once they made it down the short flight of stone steps, Kirito and the others cast a spell that would allow them to see in the dark. They then spent several minutes traversing a long stone corridor before finally reaching the first dungeon.

The dungeon in question was a sprawling dead underground city known as K'n-yan. The walls of the vast cavern that the city was contained in were made of an odd stone that bathed the entire city in a blue light, and the buildings that made up this dead metropolis were incredibly ancient and of a mixed architecture. The smaller buildings seemed to have a more Roman design, complete with pillars that decorated the entryways on the more medium-sized structures. Meanwhile in parts of the city there were massive pyramids made of an odd black stone and had a design like the pyramids built by the Aztecs or the Mayans. Besides the strange lighting and the ancient architecture, the most notable feature about the dead city of K'n-yan was that it was completely silent.

Kirito and the others ended up exploring a fairly large building on the east side of the city that was located next to one of the giant pyramids. Upon their entry into the building, the team encountered a hoard made up of twenty monsters. The creatures were a group of women with chalk white skin. In place of a head, each of the women had a spectral blue flame. Pieces of black armor covered their chests, and covering their waists were short skirts made of a tattered black cloth. Each of these headless women was armed with a black sword and a small round black shield.

As soon as the team entered the building, the hoard of headless women charged at them with their swords raised. Kirito instantly drew Excalibur and the Master's Blade and began to hack away at them. Within less than two minutes, the famed Black Swordsman managed to take out three of the undead creatures. Asuna meanwhile was able to take out five of the creatures with three quick strikes to each using the Valkyrie's Rose sword that she had received from Odin. Klein, Agil and Sinon were also able to take down some of the headless women with little difficulty. Within a few short minutes, the hoard was completely eliminated.

"I forgot just how freaky this place was." Silica remarked with a heavy sigh.

"We took those things down pretty quickly." Agil observed.

"I'll say. Of course it was Kirito and Asuna who ended up doing most of the work." Klein pointed out.

"Well, looks like this was a pretty successful test of your new sword." Kirito told Asuna.

"I'll say. This thing's just as powerful as we thought." Asuna replied as she looked at the blade before putting the weapon back in its sheath. "Hopefully it'll give me an edge in the tournament, assuming that I actually make it in of course."

"Well, well, well. This is certainly an unexpected sight." A familiar voice interrupted. Asuna and the others looked to see Nytokris standing in the doorway to the building. "I didn't think that I'd run into the friend of that poser, Yuuki skulking around K'n-yan with her little friends."

"What the hell are you doing here?" Asuna demanded to know.

"Is it a crime now to explore these ruins?" Nytokris asked. "I was just down here hunting for items when I saw you here and decided to say hi. And to remind you of how pathetic you are."

"Why don't we fight right here and now?" Asuna dared as she reached for her sword. "Then we can see which of us is really pathetic!"

"I told you, I'm not going to bother with you unless we end up facing each other in the Clash of Queens tournament." Nytokris told her. "Of course there's probably a good chance that you didn't even make the cut."

"Then how about taking me on instead?" Kirito suggested as he redrew his swords. "I've heard a lot about you, Nytokris. And I can't let the things you've said about Asuna and Yuuki stand."

Nytokris looked at Kirito's two swords and scowled. "Sorry. Not interested. I know all about you, Black Swordsman. I'm good, but at the moment I'd rather not take the chance of facing you and those two swords of yours. So for now I'll take my leave."

With that, Nytokris left the building. Asuna and Siune sighed as Kirito sheathed his two blades.

"So that was Nytokris, huh?" Klein observed. "She really is a bitch."

"She said terrible things about Yuuki when we first met her." Siune remarked. "If only I were a little stronger, I could maybe make that woman pay for what she said."

"Don't worry babe." Klein told the blunette as he put an arm around her. "People like Nytokris always get what's coming to them in the end."

Kirito glanced at his shoulder and noticed a quizzical expression on Yui's face. "Something wrong Yui?"

"I don't know." Yui answered. "There was just something about Nytokris that I couldn't quite put my finger on. I'm not sure, but I don't think that she's a normal player."

"So what should we all do now?" Agil suddenly asked. "Shall we stick around this place and explore for a little while more?"

"At least for another hour." Asuna replied. "After that, I want to get to a tavern so we can watch the announcement of the players competing in Clash of Queens. I don't want to miss finding out whether or not I made the cut."

* * *

After spending a little more time down in K'n-yan, Kirito and the others left the Mound and headed for the nearest tavern where they could watch the stream of the big Clash of Queens announcement. The group had ended up at a rather high-class café located in one of the larger cities in imp territory. It was only a few minutes after the six had sat down at large round table with a booth when the announcement began. A blue orb that had been fitted into the center of the table had started to project a blue column of light.

Appearing in the center of the light was a young-looking woman with long curly blonde hair and violet eyes. She had on a sleeveless low-cut powder-blue shirt and a short multicolored skirt with large white polka dots, along with long striped blue and black stockings and a pair of green elf shoes with little gold bells on the tips of the toes. Around the blonde's neck was a green choker with a black musical note on the front.

 _"Hello one and all!"_ the projection of the woman spoke. _"For those who don't know, I am Lydia, songstress and idol of ALO and master of ceremonies for the first-ever Clash of Queens Tournament! Now we've had a lot of wonderful players enter this tournament, but I'm afraid we could only pick the top thirty-two applicants to compete. These applicants were chosen based on a number of factors like the number of monsters and other players slain, as well as successfully completed quests and monster battles. Now for the moment you've all been waiting for, here is the list of our thirty-two competitors!"_

The image of Lydia vanished, and in her place was the image of a black list of names written in white text. Kirito scanned the names on the list and smiled when he saw Asuna's name towards the top at number two.

"There ya go, Asuna! I told you you'd make it." Kirito spoke.

"Yeah… but look at who got number one on the list." Asuna replied in a low voice.

Kirito looked at the list again and saw who's name was at the very top. It was Nytokris.

"Oh… well, okay. That kinda sucks." Kirito admitted. "But still, you made the cut and got number two. That's something you should be proud of."

"No! I won't accept this!" Asuna declared. "I've had enough of this woman getting the better of me! She won't push ahead of me again!"

"Wow! This is the most intense I've ever seen Mommy get." Yui quietly remarked to Kirito.

"Yeah, well… for someone who used to be ultra passionate about taking school exams, I guess this is something we should expect." Kirito replied. "Plus I'd feel pretty ticked too if someone like Nytokris got the better of me."

"Well I'll be damned." Agil spoke. "Look who else made the cut? Sinon's gonna be part of this thing too."

Kirito and Asuna both looked at the list again. Sure enough, they saw Sinon's name on the list right below Asuna's in the number three spot.

"I didn't even know Sinon had entered." Klein spoke.

"Neither did I." Agil replied. "It's not surprising that she made the cut though, considering all the other players she's taken out as a mercenary."

Kirito began to scan the list to see if there was anyone else he knew taking part in the tournament. Listed right under Sinon's name was Sakuya, the current leader of the sylphs, and below Sakuya's name was Alicia Rue, the current leader of the cait siths. Kirito saw a few other names that he didn't recognize, and then in the number nine spot he saw that Leafa was on the list.

"No way! Sugu's taking part in this thing too?" a surprised Kirito asked.

"Not just her." Asuna informed him. "Liz made the list too. She's number twenty-nine."

"Holy crap!" Silica exclaimed as she suddenly stood up. "I actually made the cut too?"

Kirito and the others looked at the list again. Sure enough, Silica's name was there at the very bottom of the list.

"Silica! I didn't even know you had entered." Asuna told her.

"Well, when I heard about the tournament, I decided to try entering just for the heck of it." Silica explained. "I didn't think I'd actually make it in as a competitor though. I mean I'm at the very bottom of the list, but still."

"I guess this means we might be facing each other later." Asuna replied.

"Yep. If that happens though, please try and go easy on me." Silica requested.

"Don't worry. I will." Asuna assured her. "A battle between us might actually be kinda fun."

Suddenly the list vanished and the image of Lydia reappeared. _"To the thirty-two players who made the cut, congratulations! Your hard work paid off! As for everyone else who didn't get in, I wish you all better luck next time. The tournament will begin tomorrow at the city of the World Tree! Until next time, this is Lydia signing off!"_

With that, the image of Lydia vanished and the projector inside the table stopped.

"Looks like you've got quite a battle ahead of you, Asuna." Kirito noted.

"Yep. But I'm ready for it!" Asuna declared. "I'm going to beat Nytokris and make it to the top!"

* * *

Please review and let me know what you think.


	9. The Clash Begins

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Sword Art Online, nor do I own the works of H.P. Lovecraft.

* * *

Chapter 9: The Clash Begins

The day of the Clash of Queens tournament arrived, and practically every player in ALO logged into the game so that they could watch the battles that were about to take place. Meanwhile, all those who were actually participating in the tournament had begun to gather at the city at the base of the World Tree. It was only a few minutes before the official start of the tournament when Asuna arrived with Silica at the place that was to be the starting point of the tournament, a small stadium on the outer edge of the city that was made of some kind of blue crystal. Only a second after Silica and Asuna arrived, they saw Leafa land on the ground right next to them.

"Hi Leafa!" Asuna spoke, getting the blonde's attention.

"Oh! Hi Asuna, Silica." A somewhat surprised Leafa responded. "Uh, good luck in the tournament."

"Yeah. You too." Asuna replied. "You know, Kirito and I were pretty surprised when we found out that you were a participant. I didn't even know you had entered."

"That makes two of us." A familiar voice interrupted. Asuna and the others looked to see Sinon approaching them with her mask on. "I knew Asuna was trying to get into the tournament, but I didn't expect you to enter, Leafa. Or you, Silica."

"Well what about you Sinon?" Leafa asked. "What's your reason for entering the tournament?"

"It just seemed like it might be a blast." Sinon answered. "An actual fight is a little better than hunting them down. By the way, I think I saw Liz go into the stadium just a minute ago. We should probably join her, huh?"

"Well, well. So you actually managed to make the cut, eh Asuna?" a familiar voice spoke. Asuna and the others turned around and saw Nytokris approaching them. "I guess miracles really do happen sometimes."

"It was more than a miracle that I got into this tournament, Nytokris!" Asuna told her. "In case you didn't notice, I made the number-two spot on the list of participants."

"Did you now? I guess I didn't notice." Nytokris replied with a rather bored expression. "I mean when I saw my name at the top of the list, I didn't bother to see who else made the cut. I will say though that there does seem to be some pretty good competition here. We have Sinon the Phantom Arrow, and my dear Leafa. How have you been since our last encounter?"

"Leafa, you know this… this woman?" a stunned Asuna asked.

"We went on a little quest together just a couple of days ago against one of the Great Old Ones." Nytokris revealed. "I'm a little surprised she never mentioned it to you. I guess this just means she's not as good a friend as you thought she was."

"That quest I went on with you was a mistake!" Leafa declared. "I mean what the hell was with that little 'after party' of yours?"

"It's truly a shame that you didn't stay for that, Leafa." Nytokris told her as she moved in and suddenly took hold of the blonde's chin. "I know that if you'd have just loosened up, you and I would've had an amazing time."

"I don't go in for that sort of thing!" Leafa told her as she pushed the silver-haired imp away. "Now get lost!"

Nytokris simply shrugged. "It seems like everyone's a bit touchy today. I guess we'll all just have to settle whatever little differences we have with each other in the ring. Later."

With that, Nytokris calmly walked off towards the stadium.

"That Nytokris woman really is bad news." Silica remarked.

"She seems kinda familiar somehow." Sinon noted.

"You've met her before too?" a surprised Asuna asked.

"Not in this game, but somewhere else." Sinon answered. "Maybe I met her once back in GGO. It's really impossible to tell."

"Well… whatever." Asuna replied. "Let's just get to the stadium."

Asuna and Silica immediately headed for the crystal building. Just as Sinon began to follow them, Leafa suddenly grabbed her by the shoulder.

"Sinon, there's something I think I should tell you about Nytokris." Leafa informed her. "Something big."

"What is it?" Sinon asked.

"Well you know how you said Nytokris seemed familiar to you just now?" Leafa began. "I think that's because she's actually your friend, Nakuru."

"Nakuru?" Sinon repeated with a quirked brow. "…Now that you mention it, they do seem to have the same voice."

"It's not just the voice." Leafa told her. "You remember when I met you and Nakuru IRL and she said that thing about how there's no point in living if you don't loosen up now and then? Well Nytokris said the exact same thing to me at the end of that quest we were on together!"

"Nakuru's used that line with me too." Sinon recalled. "Huh… maybe it is her then. It's kinda funny, since Nakuru never mentioned to me that she played VRMMOs. In fact when I mentioned that I played, she told me that it wasn't really her thing. I guess she could've changed her mind about them though."

"Yeah, well… if she did, I think you should know that she's into some pretty weird stuff in this game." Leafa declared. "You remember me mentioning an 'after party' that happened at the end of that quest Nytokris and I went on together, right? Well that party was an orgy!"

"Seriously?" a stunned Sinon asked.

"Yeah! I got the hell out of there as soon as it started, but before I left I saw Nytokris getting it on with these two other girls!" Leafa revealed. "And this one guy I met on the raid was going over to join them as I left. Maybe I'm wrong about your friend being Nytokris, but if I'm right, then your friend is pretty twisted."

"…You know, I almost bought this idea that Nakuru was Nytokris until you told me about this crap." Sinon told her. "I don't know what kind of person you think Nakuru is, but I know for a fact that she'd never take part in any kind of orgy. You obviously have no clue what you're talking about."

"Look! Maybe I am wrong, but then again maybe I'm not!" Leafa told her. "You know how some people take on different personalities when they're online. The Nakuru you know IRL could be a completely different person in this game!"

"Not that different!" Sinon argued, losing a bit of her normal composure. "Now unless you want me to just forget about the tournament and finish you off when a few arrows right here, you better just shut the hell up about this."

With that, Sinon turned on her heel and went off towards the stadium. Leafa let out a heavy sigh and followed after her. In moments the two had entered the crystal stadium and found Asuna and Silica a few feet from the main door. They also spotted Lisbeth in a corner of the large room by herself. All away across the large chamber, Asuna and the others spotted a couple of other very familiar faces talking to each other.

One of the two people in question was a tall young-looking woman with long straight dark hair, wearing a green and white kimono-like dress that showed off her ample cleavage. This woman was Sakuya, the current leader of the sylphs. The other person was a short girl with bronze skin and curly blonde hair with a pair of cat-like ears. This second girl was Alicia Rue, the current leader of the cait siths.

"Looks like all the competitors are here." Asuna observed.

"About time you showed up, Sinon!" a voice suddenly spoke.

Asuna and the others looked, and approaching them was a young woman who appeared to be about seventeen or eighteen and had a fairly impressive bust. She had long dark-purple hair that grew down to her waist and covered her right eye. The black breastplate she wore had a triangular opening at the top that showed off a bit of her cleavage, and on the armor over her stomach was the symbol of a crescent moon colored red. Pieces of black armor covered the woman's shoulders, and the shirt she wore under her armor had long purple sleeves. The rest of the young lady's outfit consisted of a short red skirt cut well above the knee, and a pair of skintight purple stockings with black armored boots. Sinon and Leafa both recognized this young woman quite well. Her name in ALO was Selene, and like Leafa and Sinon she was once a member of Donis's guild, the Order of Yig.

"I thought I saw your name on the list of tournament players, Selene." Sinon recalled.

"That's right, and the reason I entered was because I heard a rumor that said you were going to be in this tournament too." Selene revealed. "This seemed like the perfect chance to get back at you for our last battle in N'aki."

"You're welcome to try and take me down if you want, but I doubt you'll be able to take me." Sinon told her.

Before the conversation could get any further, a blue column of light suddenly shot up from the center of the circular chamber. A storm of pink flower petals appeared inside the beam for a moment before exploding to reveal the MC for the tournament, Lydia.

"Hello one and all!" Lydia spoke into a microphone she was holding as the light around her faded. "I'm pleased to welcome you to the first ever Clash of Queens tournament! Now before we reveal the matchups for the first battles, let me explain how this tournament is going to work. Naturally, all of the battles are going to be one-on-one duels. Each battle will have a time limit of twenty-five minutes, and the player who has the most HP remaining at the end of that time limit will be the winner. I don't think I have to say that players can also win by taking their opponent's HP to zero. Players also have the option of surrendering during the battle, but hopefully things won't come to that for anyone.

"Now as for the settings for these battles, each pair of fighters will be teleported to different dungeon and forest areas throughout ALO. But don't worry. There will be zero chance of a random monster encounter during the battle, and we won't be sending anyone into a boss room. I should also mention that none of the areas of New Aincrad are going to be used as a venue."

"So it's pretty much like the BoB tournaments in GGO." Sinon quietly remarked. "I'm starting to get a little bit more into this."

"Now that I've explained how the battles are going to work, it's time to reveal the matchups for the first round!" Lydia announced. "I should mention that the matchups for round one were made completely at random."

A giant black screen showing the brackets for the tournament appeared behind the blonde. Asuna spotted her name in the first bracket along with Leafa, Lisbeth, Sakuya and Selene. Meanwhile, Sinon, Silica and Nytokris had ended up in the second bracket along with Alicia Rue.

"For today, we'll be holding the first two rounds of the Bracket A players!" Lydia continued. "The first two rounds for the Bracket B players won't be held until tomorrow, though those players are more than welcome to stick around and watch. Now in the interest of time, all of the battles are going to be held at the same time. Those of you watching this broadcast either from a tavern in game or at home on their computer can stream can simply pick the specific battle that they wish to stream. Now then, if the Bracket A players will step onto the teleport pads provided, the tournament will now begin! Good luck to each and every one of you!"

Asuna, Leafa, Lisbeth and Selene each stepped onto one of the large blue hexagonal pads by the wall behind them along with the other players in their bracket. In seconds, each of the pads lit up, and the players were enveloped in beams of white light that shot up through holes in the stadium ceiling.

* * *

The beam from the teleport pad ended up placing Asuna in a large circular underground chamber made of brown stone. There were round passageways in the walls to Asuna's left and right leading into other corridors, and growing from the ground and the walls were glowing lavender crystals that bathed everything in a pinkish light. Asuna recognized the place as part of an underground dungeon in leprechaun territory that had originally been an old mine. The blunette had traveled to this mine once before with Lisbeth and some of the others to help the blacksmith gather materials for making weapons. The memory of that quest couldn't help but remind Asuna about how she and the others had been drifting apart.

Asuna pushed those troubling thoughts from her mind and began to look around the chamber for her opponent. All the blunette knew about her opponent was that she went by the name, Lurga. The icon that had been next to Lurga's name on the tournament chart back in the stadium had told Asuna that her opponent played as a gnome, but beyond that, Asuna knew nothing about whom she was up against. All Asuna knew was that she would have to be ready for anything. After a few moments, Asuna saw a figure emerge from one of the corridors connecting to the chamber and walk towards her.

The figure in question was a woman who had a height of about nine feet. She had bronze skin and was extremely muscular for someone of her gender. This woman had straight dark hair that was tied in a braided ponytail that went down just past the end of her neck, and her eyes had a deep color like that of a pomegranate. The female giant had on a piece of dark-grey armor that covered her chest but also showed her midriff, and around her waist was a short skirt covered in dark-brown fur. She also had on a pair of dark-grey metal boots, along with two thick bands around her wrists made of the same metal. Covering her bulging left shoulder was a skull from what looked like a saber-toothed cat of some kind that had been fashioned into a piece of armor. Slung across this woman's back was a large metal hammer with a long thin black pole for a handle.

Asuna's would-be opponent immediately spotted the blunette and went over to face her. As Asuna looked over her opponent – or rather looked up at her – she couldn't help but take a big gulp as some of the color drained from her face. She couldn't believe that a player in ALO could have such an imposing avatar.

The woman giant, Lurga looked down at Asuna and scowled a bit. "Figures I'd be up against a little pipsqueak like you in the first round." She sighed and drew the hammer that was slung across her back. "Well, let's do this thing."

Asuna quickly took a fighting stance as a holographic screen appeared in the air above them. The digital clock ticked down from three seconds before hitting zero to start the twenty-five minute time limit to the battle. As soon as the timer beeped, Lurga raised her hammer and swung the head of it down into the ground, sending a wave of earth across the battlefield at the blunette. Asuna dashed away to the right before the attack could hit her and began to run across the walls. After getting to the entryway that led to the other corridor out of the chamber, Asuna jumped back to the ground, drew her sword and charged across the field to attack Lurga from the side.

Just as Asuna had gotten in striking range though, Lurga chanted a spell that caused the ground to explode in four spots around the giant. One of the explosions was right in the blunette's path. Asuna managed to stop before getting caught in the explosion, but before the smoke cleared, Lurga emerged and hit Asuna with he hammer. The impact flung Asuna back into the cave wall and knocked away about a quarter from her HP gauge. As Asuna got to her feet, Lurga slowly began to advance on her.

"You know what they call me in this game, pipsqueak?" Lurga asked. "They call me Iron Lurga! That's because hardly anyone has been able to take down my HP by even a single point. I'm like the ultimate tank! If you think a little twerp like you has even a slight chance, you're dreaming!"

"We'll see about that!" Asuna told her. "Now let's go!"

* * *

While Asuna's battle with Lurga was just getting started, Lisbeth had ended up in another vast underground cavern that was practically pitch-black except for a strange luminescent moss that was growing on the cavern walls, bathing the entire place in a dim light. All around the pinkette were small and dilapidated stone huts of a very ancient and primitive design, many of which had strange-looking vines clinging to their walls. Growing in spots all around the seemingly endless cavern were small patches of odd vegetation, sickly grey mushrooms of an abnormal size and unhealthy-looking grass of an off-white color. The entire place smelled like an ancient septic tank, and flowing along to Lisbeth's right was a river of black ooze.

Lisbeth recognized just what dungeon she had been placed in, for she had been to this dungeon only once before. The pinkette had landed in the vast underground kingdom of N'kai, the deepest and darkest dungeon hidden beneath the Mound.

"Ugh! Why the heck did this place get picked as the spot for my first battle?" a disgusted Lisbeth asked.

"I agree. This place is less than glamorous." A familiar voice remarked. Lisbeth turned to see Selene standing just a few feet away. "Then again, this venue is really just perfect for me."

"So it's you and me in the first round, huh?" Lisbeth observed as she took a fighting stance. "Looks like I'm finally gonna have my chance to really make you pay for what you did, you slut!"

"Are you still made about that fling I had with Donis?" Selene asked. "I guess that just proves what a little girl you still are."

A holographic timer appeared in the air above the two fighters. As soon as the clock beeped to signal the start of the fight, Lisbeth charged full speed towards Selene and struck her in the stomach with Mjolnir. The purple-haired imp woman was knocked back and lost almost half her HP from the attack.

"Not bad." Selene remarked. "Of course in my opinion, it's kind of a cheat to use a legendary weapon like Mjolnir in a tournament like this. Then again, you kind of need the handicap since I have the home field advantage in this dungeon."

Before Lisbeth could ask what she meant, Selene began chanting an odd spell and large globs started to rise from the river of black ooze that they were standing next to. In seconds, the six blobs that had formed turned into pitch-black copies of Selene, each with its own HP gauge.

"You remember this little power that I got from screwing Donis, right?" Selene reminded her. "It lets me summon these blob clones of myself whenever I'm down in N'kai. I decided to be nice and just summon six of them. Actually, summoning only a small group of these clones doesn't cost me as much MP as summoning a small army would."

"Oh crap!" Lisbeth cursed.

One of Selene's ooze clones charged at Lisbeth from behind and slashed her across the back with her sword, taking off a large chunk of her HP. The pinkette turned around and slammed her golden hammer into the clone's stomach, but the attack barely took off a quarter of the clone's HP. Two of the other Selene clones charged at Lisbeth, forcing her to fall back before all six of them had a chance to surround her.

"That hammer of the gods you have is only going to give you a slight edge in this fight." Selene told Lisbeth. "I can see that you aren't wearing your tok'l-metal armor, which means you're going to take a lot more damage from my lovely backup fighters here. And if you read the PM that all of the qualifying participants in this tournament got that lists the full rules before coming here, you know that it's not allowed for a player to change her equipment in mid-battle. Looks like you're toast, pinky."

"That's what you think!" Lisbeth told her. "You may have the edge of this battlefield, but there's no way in hell that I'm going to lose to a bitch like you!"

* * *

Please review and let me know what you think.


	10. Lisbeth's Rage

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Sword Art Online, nor do I own the works of H.P. Lovecraft.

* * *

Chapter 10: Lisbeth's Rage

Before the start of the tournament, Kirito and Yui had gone with Agil, Klein and Siune to one of the more upscale taverns in sylph territory to watch the coming battles. The establishment was already packed with other players wanting to watch the tournament fights by the time that Kirito and the others had arrived. Despite the crowds though, the gang had managed to get their own table in the corner by the window; a table that would allow them to stream more than one battle at once. Since all the fights in the tournament were taking place at the same time, Kirito and his friends were left with no other option but to divide the task of watching each fight between them. Klein and Siune got the job of watching Leafa's battle in the first round, while Agil had the task of watching Lisbeth's first fight.

This left Kirito and Yui able to watch Asuna's fight against Lurga, and ever since that battle started things had not been looking good for Asuna. Over six minutes had gone by in the fight, and the blunette hadn't even landed a single blow. At one point, Lurga had almost bashed Asuna in the side of the head with her giant, and while Asuna had been able to duck out of the way at the last second, the sight of it almost gave Kirito a heart attack. He knew that Asuna couldn't actually suffer any physical harm in the game, but the idea of his girlfriend getting her head pounded by the hammer of a muscular nine-foot giantess was something that the black swordsman did not wish the actually see.

"This is just brutal!" Kirito declared. "Hey Agil! Do you know if there's like a steroid potion in this game or something? Because I think Asuna's opponent shouldn't been tested for it before her fight started."

"Oh yeah. She's up against the one they call Iron Lurga, right?" Agil recalled with a slight chuckle. "I've heard Lurga's one of the best tank players around though. But don't worry man, I think Asuna has a pretty good shot against her."

"In the meantime Kirito, I've got some good news for you." Klein interjected. "Your sister's fight just ended, and she won."

"That's good to hear." Kirito replied with a heavy sigh. "Who was Sugu up against again?"

"A leprechaun player called Nix." Klein answered. "She was actually pretty good, but not quite a match for your sister. Leafa took Nix's HP to zero with twenty-two minutes still on the clock."

"It's too bad that Lisbeth's battle isn't going as well." Agil remarked. "She's up against Selene from that Order of Yig guild that Donis started… and they're fighting down in N'kai."

"Wait! Doesn't Selene have that power that lets her summon those duplicates of herself from that black ooze?" Siune recalled.

"That's right. And she's been using that power to totally pound Liz into the ground." Agil confirmed. "What's worse is that Liz isn't equipped with any of her tok'l-metal gear. She has Mjolnir, but that's about it. Right now, Liz is at a huge disadvantage."

"It's pretty much just bad luck, really." Kirito remarked. "The only thing tok'l-metal gear is good for is fighting the Cthulhu Mythos monsters that have been introduced to ALO. It's not the kind of weaponry that one would normally bring into a tournament like this. But with Liz up against a player with a hidden ability to command Mythos monsters in the only part of the game where that ability works… I'm afraid that the battle will probably end in Selene's favor."

"I hate to say it, but you're probably right." Klein agreed. "How's Asuna holding up in her battle?"

"Not good." Kirito answered. "She hasn't lost any more HP since that first time she got hit, but she hasn't been able to damage Lurga either. If Asuna can't do any damage before the time limit of the fight is up, she's out of the tournament."

* * *

There was less than twenty minutes on the clock as Asuna dashed around the cave trying to land a blow on Lurga. Every time the blunette would get close, Lurga would cast a spell that detonated parts of the ground around her to block Asuna's path. Then the giantess would emerge from the smoke to try and strike Asuna with her hammer. Asuna had managed to fall back just in time to avoid her opponent's strikes, but she knew that time was running out. Unless the blunette did something to change the current situation soon, she would lose because Lurga had more HP.

Fortunately, Asuna had an idea about how she could turn the battle back in her favor. It took a little while for Asuna to be sure, but after several of her repeated failed attacks she believed that she had found a major gap in Lurga's defenses. After making it to the other side of the cavern again, Asuna charged at Lurga from the front with her sword. Just as before when Asuna came within striking distance, Lurga chanted the spell that caused the ground around her to explode in four spots again. At the last moment, Asuna shifted direction and moved in between the explosions.

Before Lurga could swing her hammer, Asuna stabbed the giantess seven times in the side with her sword. Lurga stumbled back a step and her HP gauge went down by about fifteen percent. The giantess recovered and swung her hammer down at Asuna with all her strength. Asuna bent backward as the hammer's giant head came down towards her, causing Lurga's attack to completely miss. After the attack finished, Asuna stood all the way back up and struck Lurga nine times in the chest.

Lurga's HP gauge fell to half its original amount. Stunned, the giantess cried out as she swung her hammer, but Asuna was able to quickly fall back the cave wall to avoid the attack.

"Dammit!" Lurga cursed. "Nobody, at least not another player, has ever been able to take a point off my HP before! How the hell did you do that?"

"It took me a little bit, but I realized that the spell you use to blow up the ground and use the explosions as a shield isn't a perfect defense." Asuna explained. "The explosion doesn't occur as a complete circle, but as four separate spots; sort of like four landmines going off at once. It took you triggering the spell a few times for me to be sure, but that spell triggers the explosions in the exact same spots around you. So after I figured out exactly where those spots were, all I needed to do was run in between them."

Lurga smirked. "Not bad, beanpole. Most people don't catch onto that little weakness. You're fast and sharp."

"So now it looks like you're going to have to come up with a new strategy." Asuna remarked. "Of course the fact is that you're the one who's had the disadvantage in the fight from the very beginning. I'm guessing that while your strength, stamina and defensive stats are through the roof, your speed stat is extremely low. That's why you've been staying in that one spot and using a defensive strategy."

"You called it." Lurga admitted with a slight shrug. "Making myself this buff also shaved a lot off of my speed as a cost. So yeah, if I were to just chase you around in this fight, I wouldn't stand a chance."

"Wait. You weren't this muscular in the game to begin with?" a surprised Asuna asked.

"Nope. I was pretty muscular in the beginning when I started playing ALO, but I wasn't nearly at the place where I wanted to be." Lurga revealed. "So I put myself through a lot of intense skill training and even used certain stat enhancing potions on myself. There are a lot of ways for players in this game to get ripped."

"But why would you go through all that to make yourself so muscular at the cost of your speed?" Asuna asked.

"Trust me. If you knew who I was IRL, you'd totally understand why." Lurga replied. "Anyway, you're right that my original strategy to just block your attacks and wale on you from one spot isn't gonna work anymore. Too bad for you, that strategy wasn't the only way for me to win this. Now that I know I don't have to hold back against you, I can break out my secret weapon."

Lurga chanted another spell, and suddenly a circle of white light appeared in the center of the battlefield and expanded outward to cover the entire cavern floor. The light from the circle turned yellow, and suddenly Asuna felt some kind of force pulling against her. The force was so strong that Asuna couldn't help but drop to her knees. Meanwhile, Lurga was still standing as if everything was normal. The only thing that had changed about Lurga was that her MP gauge was now just a blue sliver.

"Not bad, huh?" Lurga asked as she took a few steps forward. "This is a little spell that let's me intensify the gravity in the area to about ten times what it normally is. The spell doesn't have any affect on me because of all my strength and stamina training, but one someone like you it should cut your speed by at least half… maybe more. Exactly just how much speed you actually lose depends on a lot of technical stuff involving your stats, but the bottom line is you can't outrun me anymore. Now this battle is just a test of your raw strength against mine."

Just as Asuna managed to get back to her feet, Lurga charged over and slammed her massive hammer into the blunette, knocking her back to the ground. Asuna's HP had fallen to half of what it originally had been.

"Not so easy to dodge my attacks now, is it?" Lurga remarked as Asuna started to get back up. "The drawback to this spell is that it costs a ton of MP to cast. That's why I only use it as a last resort. The beauty of this spell though is that its effects stay in play for about twenty minutes. That's a little more than the time we have left in this fight. And now your speed's no longer an issue, there's no way you can win this thing!"

With that, Lurga raised her hammer and swung it down back towards Asuna. Despite the gravity, Asuna managed to turn and move out of the hammer's path, causing it to strike the ground. The blunette then managed to strike Lurga a couple of times in the side with her rapier, taking off a small portion of her opponent's HP. Lurga quickly recovered and swung her hammer into Asuna, knocking the blunette back to the ground and dropping her HP into the yellow zone.

Asuna managed to pull herself back to her feet and faced Lurga. "You may have cranked up the gravity, but I'm not going to let this break me! One way or another, I'm winning this fight!"

* * *

The clock continued to tick away as Lisbeth continued to struggle against Selene's ooze clones. During the last thirteen minutes of the battle, Lisbeth had barely managed to take the HP gauges of the clones down into the yellow zone. Meanwhile the pinkette's own HP was already close to the red. The whole time, Selene had just been watching from the sidelines while all her clones did the work. At that moment as Lisbeth blocked the swords of two of the clones with her small arm shield, a third got behind her and slashed her across the back, finally taking her HP into the red.

Lisbeth was left with no choice but to fall back to the river of ooze to avoid getting surrounded by Selene's copies. The pinkette knew if that were to happen, she'd be toast.

"This really is pretty pathetic." Selene remarked. "But I guess I really shouldn't be surprised by how this battle's turning out. I mean out of everyone in our old guild, you were one of the weakest players. You were good at forging all of our weapons, but that was about it. Beyond that, you were totally worthless."

"What the hell did you just say?" Lisbeth asked.

"I just said you were weak." Selene restated. "In fact I'm sure the only reason why Donis kept you around was because of your blacksmith skills. Heck, he probably got bored with you in bed too. I mean when you think about it, Donis probably wanted to get it on with someone who was more of a real woman than with a child like you."

Upon hearing this, Lisbeth cried out and charged at Selene with her hammer raised. The of the clones got in the pinkette's path, but Lisbeth mercilessly knocked them aside with her weapon and plowed on through. When Lisbeth got in striking distance, she slammed the head of her divine hammer into Selene's stomach and took off another chunk of her HP. Suddenly two more of the clones began to charge at Lisbeth, but before they could land a blow the pinkette grabbed Selene by the arm and swung her around so that the two clone stabbed her in the back. Selene's HP went into the red, and suddenly all six of the clones popped like balloons, leaving behind only a strange odor.

"Well what do you know? It looks like those clones of yours short out when they attack their creator." Lisbeth observed. "Now this is more of a fair fight!"

Selene managed to break free of Lisbeth's grip and drew her sword. Lisbeth dodged the swing of Selene's blade and tripped her with her right foot, knocking the imp woman off balance. Selene ended up falling forward and her face hit the river of black ooze. Lisbeth quickly got on her knees and held Selene's face into the slime river for several moments with her left hand. Selene flailed her arms and legs but could not escape the fairy blacksmith's grip. Lisbeth eventually struck Selene in the back with her hammer, reducing her HP to zero.

Selene's body then became nothing more than a floating ball of purple flames. Suddenly the timer above the battlefield was replaced by another holographic screen with a message declaring Lisbeth the winner of the match. Soon after as Lisbeth stood back up, a beam of blue light shot up from the ground around her feet and teleported her out of the underground kingdom of N'kai.

* * *

With the gravity turned up, it was taking everything Asuna had to avoid the strikes from Lurga's hammer. What was worse was that Lurga was having a fairly easy time evading the strikes from Asuna's rapier. The gravity was also affecting the speed of Asuna's attacks as well as her ability to evade. There was just over a minute left in the battle, and Asuna's HP had fallen into the red while Lurga's was still in the very low yellow. Asuna knew that if she couldn't land a blow soon, she would be out of the tournament.

The clock hit fifty-nine seconds as Lurga raised her hammer into the air for another swing. As the giantess swung her weapon down towards Asuna's head, Asuna somehow managed to sidestep the attack. Then, in the space of those few seconds, Asuna saw an opening and used a Mother's Rosario attack to strike Lurga's side. The attack ended right when the timer hit zero. When it was over, Lurga's HP was nothing more than a red sliver. The timer vanished, and in its place was a large message declaring Asuna the winner of the match. Soon after, the floor of the cavern returned to normal.

"Not bad, short stuff." Lurga praised. "It was an honor fighting you."

"Same here." Asuna replied.

"Maybe sometime in the future we could go on a quest together." Lurga suggested.

"I'd like that." Asuna replied, and with that the two of them shook hands.

Soon after, two beams of blue light shot up from the ground around the competitors and teleported them out of the cave.

* * *

Right after Asuna reappeared on the teleport pad in the crystal arena, she began to stretch as she walked off the pad. It felt great being able to move around again like normal after having to fight against the pull of an intense gravity field. As Asuna looked around the room while stretching, she noticed Lisbeth leaning against the far wall with her arms crossed and a rather angry expression on her face. The blunette decided to go over and see how Lisbeth was doing.

"Hey Liz! How'd you do?" Asuna asked as she came over. "Did you win the first round?"

"Of course I did. What? Did you think I'd just get wiped out in round one?" Lisbeth asked in an irritated tone. "Just because I didn't make it into the top ten competitors like you, Little Ms. Perfect doesn't mean I'm a wimp!"

"I didn't say that!" Asuna told her.

"Just kiss off!" Lisbeth shot back. "Until this tournament is done, we're enemies! Got that?"

With that, Lisbeth stormed off. For a moment, Asuna thought about going after her, but realized that it wouldn't do any good.

"Asuna?" a familiar voice spoke. The blunette turned and saw Leafa standing before her. "Um, congrats on winning. I guess you and I both made it to the second round, huh?"

"Yeah. Looks that way." Asuna replied with a weak smile.

"I saw the rest of your fight from here." Leafa revealed. "You did really well. I was actually a little worried about you though when Lurga cast that gravity spell."

"You weren't the only one." Asuna replied.

"Leafa's right, Asuna. You did exceptionally well in your first battle." A familiar voice remarked. Asuna and Leafa turned to see Sakuya of the sylphs approaching them. "Of course now the real challenge for you begins, since in the next round you'll be facing me."

"I see." Asuna replied, her expression turning serious. "It'll be an honor to fight you."

At that moment, Lydia reappeared on the stage with a flash of blue light. "Congrats to everyone in Bracket A who made it to the second round! The second round matches for the Bracket A players will begin in five minutes, so you lucky players who've made it this far may want to take the time to change up your battle gear."

"That's not a bad idea." Sakuya spoke as she brought up her menu. "Against the Berserk Healer, I may need a little extra help."

In a flash of blue light, Sakuya's outfit completely transformed. The dark-haired woman now had on a shiny green skin-tight bodysuit along with a piece of ornate gold armor that covered her ample chest. Around her waist was a white belt with a gold buckle that had a symbol representing a cherry blossom engraved on the front. On her feet was a pair of gold metallic boots that went up almost to the knee, and covering her shoulders were two pieces of golden armor carved to look like leaves. A pair of white elbow-high fingerless gloves covered Sakuya's hands, and tied around her forehead was a golden headband with the symbol of the sylphs on the front in green. Hanging from Sakuya's waist was her usual katana.

"What do you think of my new battle regalia?" Sakuya asked, looking very smug. "You wouldn't believe the quests that I had to go on to get this forged."

"Wow! You look amazing, Lady Sakuya!" Leafa praised.

"I'll say. But it'll take more than just a new outfit to beat me." Asuna declared.

"Oh don't worry. This battle gear I'm wearing is more than just a simple costume." Sakuya told her. "Once our battle gets going, you'll see what I mean."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Sorry if this chapter wasn't my best work. Lisbeth's battle with Selene was supposed to take center stage, but in the end it seems I made it more about Asuna's battle with Lurga.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	11. The Shadow of Donis

**Author's Note:** Apologies for the delay with this latest update to the story. I had a little writer's block with certain parts of this chapter, so I decided to take a little break and work on a little Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V three-shot during the end of the last week. If anyone reading is interested, the three-shot I speak of is called _Phantom Knight Dreams_. The story wasn't my best work, but it was kinda fun to write. Anyway, I'm pretty much back on track with this story, so without further adieu here's the next chapter!

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Sword Art Online.

* * *

Chapter 11: The Shadow of Donis

A few minutes after getting ready for the next round, Asuna and all of the other tournament participants in her bracket stepped onto the teleport pads in the crystal stadium and were whisked away by beams of blue light to different locations around ALO. Asuna's beam had placed her on the beach of a deserted-looking tropical island, with the sea to her right and a dense jungle forest to her left. The blunette recognized the location as an island in undine territory where she and the other had gone to from time to time for a fun day at the beach. As Asuna took in her surroundings, she saw another beam of blue light shoot down from the sky and hit the sandy ground a few feet away from where she was standing. In moments, the light faded to reveal Sakuya in her new battle outfit.

"Well, this is certainly a more pleasant venue than the one they put me in during the last round." Sakuya remarked as she looked around. "I'm sure you feel the same way, eh Asuna?"

"This is nicer than that mine I was in." Asuna admitted as she approached her opponent. "Plus we both have more space to move around."

"Indeed. I would request though that even though we can fly in a place like this, we keep this fight on the ground." Sakuya replied. "Aerial sword fights always tend to get a little out of control."

"Fine with me." Asuna agreed as she prepared to draw her sword.

As Sakuya took a fighting stance in response, a holographic timer appeared above them and began to count down. When the clock hit zero, Asuna drew her rapier and charged across the beach towards Sakuya. Just as the blunette was only inches away from her target though, the image of Sakyua's body seem to split into three as the sylph queen suddenly started to dash towards Asuna. Asuna's blade hit nothing but an afterimage of her opponent, and a split second later Sakuya came around from Asuna's left and slashed her across the back twice with her katana. With a chunk of her HP suddenly gone, Asuna quickly turned on her feet and managed to block the other strikes from Sakuya's blade as she was suddenly forced back by the dark-haired sylph.

Asuna found that it was taking almost everything she had to counter each of Sakuya's attacks. Eventually the blunette found an opening and managed to strike Sakuya three times in the stomach, taking off almost a quarter of her HP. After taking the hit, Sakuya suddenly fell back to avoid getting struck again.

"Not bad." Sakuya praised. "I knew you were going to give me a real challenge."

"I've seen you fight before, and you've never been able to move this fast!" Asuna recalled. "What the heck's going on?"

"I told you, this new outfit I'm wearing isn't just some ordinary costume." Sakuya told her. "This is an enchanted suit that multiplies my speed by five and doubles the power of my wind magic."

"Where did you get an outfit like that?" Asuna asked.

"I have to go to several arduous quests to get all the materials I needed." Sakuya answered. "The green spandex-like fabric of this suit was actually made from the scales of a very powerful lake serpent on the upper floors of New Aincrad known for its speed. I also had to spend a fortune at the shop of the finest player tailor in ALO to get the suit put together. Of course being the leader of the sylphs, I easily had the funds to cover the price."

"I had no idea it was possible to find enchanted items this powerful in the game, except of course for items like Excalibur and Sinon's Coat of Yig." Asuna remarked.

"Ever since the Cthulhu Mythos updates to the game started, the designers have been putting in stronger and stronger items to try and level the playing field." Sakuya told her. "When I heard that a suit like this could be made, I knew I just had to have it. You could probably make one for yourself too, you know. Just imagine how much faster you could become."

"You mean that outfit doesn't just work for sylphs?" Asuna asked.

"No. It's the armored parts of the suit that increase my wind magic." Sakuya explained. "All you'd need to do is just slay the same lake serpent that I went after and have a suit made to work for your own type of magic. I should warn you though that it's a little snug around the undercarriage. Of course it also really shows off my butt, don't you think?"

"Yeah, it uh… it doesn't leave much to the imagination." Asuna agreed as Sakuya showed off how tightly the fabric of the suit clung to her rear. The blunette could just picture the camera streaming her current battle zooming in on Sakuya's butt for all of the male viewers who were out there watching. "Um, don't you think we should get back to our battle?"

"Agreed." Sakuya replied as she raised her sword. "The clock is ticking, after all."

With that, Asuna dashed across the beach towards Sakuya at top speed. Just when the blunette came in range, Sakuya dashed off leaving a trail of three afterimages in her wake. Asuna stopped and looked to figure out just where her opponent was going to strike. A split second later, Sakuya moved in to attack from behind only for Asuna to block the blade. The blunette then began her counterattack and managed to force Sakuya back, but the sylph queen was managing to block all of Asuna's attacks.

Eventually Asuna found an opening and managed to strike Sakuya three more times in the stomach, taking her opponent's HP gauge to almost half of what it originally was. Soon after though, Sakuya slashed Asuna twice in the chest and took the blunette down almost half her original amount of HP as well. Asuna immediately fell back to put some distance between her and Sakuya.

"I'd say we're about evenly matched, don't you think?" Sakuya asked.

"Looks that way." Asuna replied. "But in the end, I'm still going to be the one who moves onto the next round!"

* * *

While Asuna's battle with Sakuya was only just starting, Leafa had ended up in the middle of a large underground cavern with walls bathed in an orange-red light. Looking around, the blonde realized that she was standing atop a small flat island of rock in the middle of a river of molten lava. Leafa recognized the cave as a location in salamander territory that she had traveled through a few times before. Right away, Leafa realized that her battle was going to be limited to the island of rock that she was standing on, as flying in an underground cave like that would be impossible. Leafa only hoped that her opponent didn't turn out to be an imp, as then she would be at a major disadvantage.

A beam of blue light came down from the ceiling and struck the other side of the island. In moments, the light faded to reveal a young-looking woman with fair skin, pointed ears, deep magenta eyes, and light-green hair tied back in a braided ponytail that grew over half way down her back. She had on a sleeveless green v-neck shirt over a sleeveless black undershirt, along with a short green skirt and a white sash around her waist. The rest of the young woman's outfit consisted of a pair of green almost knee-high boots and a pair of gold metal bands around her wrists. Hanging from the young woman's waist was a katana with a pine-green handle and a mint-green and gold scabbard.

Seeing that her opponent was fellow sylph, Leafa breathed a sigh of relief. "You must be Lotus, right? I'm sure you and I are going to have a fun battle."

"You don't remember me, do you?" Lotus asked with a cold expression.

Leafa suddenly got a very bad feeling. "Have… have we met before?"

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised." Lotus continued. "After all, there were a lot of us in the Order of Yig."

A chill went down Leafa's spine. "So… you were part of Donis's guild too, huh?"

"That's right. But I wasn't part of the inner circle like you were." Lotus answered. "I should've been though. After all… I was more deserving of Lord Donis than a tramp like you ever was!"

"I see… so you must've fallen for Donis pretty hard." Leafa realized.

"That's right!" Lotus confirmed as she drew her sword. "And this is my chance to make you pay for stealing him from me!"

As Leafa drew her own weapon, the holographic timer appeared above the battlefield and began its countdown. When the clock hit zero, Leafa charged at Lotus to do some damage before her opponent could make a move. Leafa had only gotten half way across the battlefield though when Lotus stretched her left hand forth and chanted a spell. Four balls of greenish-yellow light flew from the green-haired girl's palm towards and changed into a set of shuriken. Leafa turned her body to the left to avoid one of the star-shaped projectiles and blocked another two with her sword. The fourth shuriken hit Leafa in the leg though and took off a little over ten percent of her HP. Before Leafa could recover, Lotus charged in and slashed Leafa twice with her katana, taking the blonde's HP close to the yellow.

Leafa countered Lotus's third attack and managed to slash the green-haired girl in the arm, taking almost twenty percent off of Lotus's HP. Lotus countered Leafa's next attack though, and Leafa was forced to fall back to avoid another strike. The green-haired sylph chanted another spell and fired another set of energy shuriken from her hand. Leafa chanted her own spell and sent six balls of greenish-yellow light towards Lotus's projectiles. Both attacks collided and exploded, creating a huge cloud of smoke.

Using the smoke for cover, Leafa charged in through the cloud to launch a counterattack. Lotus was ready for the blonde though and quickly blocked Leafa's sword with her own. The green-haired girl then slashed Leafa across the stomach, taking her HP into the yellow. Afterwards, Lotus delivered a roundhouse kick to Leafa's gut that knocked her back a few feet. It took a few moments for Leafa to get back up.

"I didn't expect you to know the wind shuriken spell." Leafa remarked. "That's a pretty hard spell in this game to master. You're pretty good."

"You can spare me your praise." Lotus told her. "I know you don't mean a word of it. You may think I'm beneath you, but I'm going to prove that I was worthier of Lord Donis's love than you ever were."

"Lotus… you don't know who Donis really was." Leafa told her. "You may have thought that he loved you, but in the end he was just using you."

"And I suppose that you think that you're the one he truly loved." Lotus assumed.

"You're wrong! Donis used me too! He used every girl he brought into his guild!" Leafa told her. "We were all just pawns in his plan to take over this game. Lotus… Donis wasn't the man you thought he was. He wasn't even real!"

"Enough!" Lotus shot back. "I have no interest in what you have to say! You took Lord Donis from me, and I'm going to make you pay!"

* * *

Kirito and the rest of the gang were still in the tavern watching the tournament battles. Just as before, Agil had been assigned to watch Lisbeth's battle, and Klein and Siune were given the task of watching Leafa's fight so that Kirito and Yui could pay close attention to Asuna's battle with Sakuya. Almost ten minutes had gone by since the battle had started, and both Asuna and Sakyua were still quite even with each other.

"It's actually pretty amazing that mommy is able to keep up with Lady Sakuya, considering Ms. Sakuya's battle gear is giving her much greater speed." Yui remarked.

"Yeah, well even though Sakuya has the edge when it comes to speed right now, your mommy still has the edge in power." Kirito replied. "That's what's helping to make up for the difference."

"Well, Lisbeth just won her second fight." Agil informed the others. "And way under the time limit too. Of course, it wasn't a pretty fight. I never thought I'd see Liz be so aggressive."

"Yeah, well… I think we should be a little more worried about Leafa's fight right now, guys." Klein told them. "She's up against someone who was once part of the Order of Yig guild."

"Wait, what?" an alarmed Kirito exclaimed. "How's she doing?"

"She's holding her own, but the fight's getting pretty nasty." Klein answered. "You can probably guess that your sister's opponent is also someone who your copycat seduced and probably took to the sack with."

"The problem is that it looks like this woman, Lotus seems to have fallen pretty hard for Donis." Siune added. "She blames Leafa for stealing Donis away from her."

"Dammit!" Kirito cursed as he slammed the side of his fist into the table. "I was afraid that something like this might come up eventually. After all, the Order of Yig was a pretty big guild. Donis probably had his way with all of them."

"Yeah, and I'm sure a lot of 'em fell head over heels for that creep just like your sister, Liz and Sinon all did." Klein added. "This really is rotten luck."

"Where exactly are Leafa and her opponent fighting anyway?" Agil asked.

"In the lava caverns in salamander territory." Klein answered. "What's worse is that they were beamed down on a slab of rock in the middle of a lava river. If either of them falls off, their HP will go to zero in no time."

"Not a good space to be in for a fight that nasty." Agil replied. "Of course the good news is that Leafa has a pretty easy way to beat who she's up against."

"Yeah, but Sugu's opponent could do the same to her." Kirito pointed out. "I just hope she can finish her battle before it gets too out of hand."

* * *

Leafa and Lotus continued to clash swords, with neither one being able to land a blow. Yet while neither sylph was able to inflict damage on the other, Lotus was managing to push Leafa towards the edge of the island. Just when it seemed like Leafa was about to be pushed back into the lava, the blonde managed to break away and ran off to the right around the rim of the island so she could come at Lotus from the other side. Leafa had only gotten half way across though when Lotus another barrage of shuriken at the blonde. Two of the bladed projectiles missed, but the third caught Leafa in the shoulder while another caught her in the leg, causing her to trip and fall to her knees.

The attack had brought Leafa's HP close to the red zone. Before the blonde could get back to her feet, Lotus charged in with her sword raised and attempted to take off Leafa's head. Leafa managed to roll out of the path of Lotus's swing and dashed back to the opposite end of this island.

"Lotus, please! We shouldn't be fighting like this!" Leafa begged. "I totally get why you're so angry at me, but this fight isn't going to change the way things are now!"

"Wrong!" Lotus declared as she pointed the blade of her sword at Leafa. "By defeating you here, I will not only make you pay for stealing Lord Donis from me, I will also make you pay for eliminating him!"

"What?" a confused Leafa spoke.

"There have been rumors flying around about why Lord Donis hasn't been seen in ALO for months." Lotus continued. "One says that you betrayed Lord Donis to a band of other players jealous of his ability and helped to eliminate him! And somehow… you also helped to eliminate his character data from the game!"

Leafa let out a heavy sigh. "Lotus… I told you before… Donis wasn't even real. He was only an NPC that was created because someone hacked ALO and put in a virus to alter the game. He may have been the perfect guy… the guy who almost every girl in ALO wanted as her prince… but he was only an illusion! The man you fell in love with… the man we both fell in love with… was nothing but a fantasy."

"…So what?" Lotus asked in a low voice, surprising Leafa. "Even if what you're saying is true, it doesn't change the fact that I still loved him!"

"Lotus…" Leafa spoke.

"Now that you've admitted your crimes, there's nothing more holding me back from doing what I have to!" Lotus declared. "In the name of Lord Donis, I'm going to make you pay!"

* * *

Please review and let me know what you think.


	12. Those Who Mourn Adonis

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Sword Art Online.

* * *

Chapter 12: Those Who Mourn Adonis

"I may not be able to inflict any real harm on you in this game, but I can at least make it so that you suffer a crushing defeat right here in this tournament!" Lotus declared before chanting another spell and firing another barrage of shuriken at Leafa.

Leafa instantly dashed off to her left as the bladed projectiles flew towards her and managed to avoid getting hit. Soon after, the blonde came at Lotus from the side and attempted to slash her with her sword, but at the last second the green-haired girl turned and blocked the attack with her own blade. Afterward, Lotus slashed her sword at the blonde's stomach, but Leafa managed to jump back at the last second to avoid taking the hit. Leafa fell back to a spot on Lotus's left still on the very edge of the island and chanted a spell to fire another cluster of energy projectiles at her opponent. Lotus responded by firing another cluster of energy shuriken and both attacks collided, resulting in a massive explosion.

As the smoke cleared, Leafa raised her sword and prepared for Lotus's counterattack. She hoped that Lotus was no longer able to use the wind shuriken spell after that last attack, as she knew for a fact that the spell used up a good chunk of MP. In fact, Leafa was depending on Lotus not being able to use the spell again. As much as she didn't like the idea, Leafa realized that there was probably only one way left for her to win her battle at this point.

"You should just make it easy on yourself and surrender now." Lotus told her. "At this point, there's no way you can win against me."

"Looks Lotus! I understand how you feel!" Leafa told her. "I still feel devastated that Donis is gone. Even though he wasn't real, even though he was pretending to be someone else, I still fell deeply in love with him. But I'm trying to move on! It's hard. It still hurts that he's gone, but I've been trying to move on! You need to do the same."

"…You have no idea what're talking about." Lotus responded in a low voice. "You don't know just how much Lord Donis meant to me! He was the only man who ever loved me! The only one who ever gave a damn that I existed! I've always been alone IRL. Every guy I would ever become interested in either had someone else already or never noticed that I existed. But Lord Donis… he was different. He told me that he valued me… that I was special to him. And now that he's gone, there's no one left who cares about me! You're partly to blame that my Donis was taken from me, so now you're going to pay for it!"

With that, Lotus charged across the battlefield towards Leafa with the blade of her sword pointed right at her. Just as Lotus was about to strike though, Leafa moved to her right and caused her opponent to charge right off the edge of the island. Lotus hit the lava, and in less than a second her HP gauge crashed to zero. Soon after, the green-haired girl's body became a ball of green flames that floated above the island. Leafa let out a heavy sigh. Her plan to win the match had worked, though she wasn't at all happy about it.

Leafa looked sadly at the ball of flames. "I'm sorry I had to end it this way… but you didn't leave me any other choice. You need help, Lotus. And I really hope that you get it."

Just as the ball of flames started to fade to nothing, the holographic timer above the battlefield vanished and was replaced by a message declaring Leafa the winner. Soon after, a beam of blue light came down from above and teleported Leafa out of the lava cavern.

* * *

Though Leafa's battle with Lotus had ended, Asuna's battle against Sakyua continued to rage on. While their swords continued to clash as the timer for the fight ticked away, each of them had managed to land a cut on the other. While Sakuya still had the edge over Asuna in speed, Asuna's power and skill were making up the difference. It was true that Sakuya was a skilled fighter, but Asuna had been in countless battles from her time trapped in SAO. Towards the end of the time left on the clock, Sakuya ended up slashing Asuna across the back and took her HP into the red zone. Immediately afterward though, Asuna turned on her heel and stabbed Sakuya four times in the stomach, taking the dark-haired sylph's HP into the red zone as well.

After both of them had taken a hit, Asuna and Sakuya fell back to take a breath. There was a little less than two minutes left on the timer for the fight.

"You're really putting up a good fight." Sakuya praised. "If you don't mind my asking though, why are you trying so hard in this tournament?"

"…There's someone in this tournament who I have to fight." Asun answered. "Someone who insulted the memory of a very dear friend of mine. I need to fight her to in order to get back at her for what she said."

"I get it. So it's a matter of honor for you." Sakuya observed. "For me though, this tournament is my chance to prove that I'm just as skilled a fighter as some of the best players in this game. I may be the leader of the sylphs, but a lot of people tend to take my abilities in battle a bit lightly. This tournament is my chance to show everyone that I'm more than just a leader and a strategist. And to do that, the best way is for me to beat someone like you."

"Then bring it on!" Asuna dared.

With that, Sakuya charged in with her sword raise and attempted to slash Asuna across the chest. The blunette was prepared for the attack though and quickly managed to block it. Their swords then continued to clash with the sounds of metal on metal ringing acros the beach. Then, with only a few seconds left on the clock, Asuna found an opening and struck Sakuya three times in the chest with her rapier. Sakuya's HP became nothing more than a red sliver only half a second before the clock for the battle hit zero. Soon after, the timer vanished and a holographic message declaring Asuna the winner appeared in the air above the beach.

Sakuya let out a heavy sigh. "Well… guess I just wasn't good enough this time."

"Don't be so hard on yourself. You gave me a real challenge." Asuna told her. "That fight could've gone either way. After seeing how this battle went, I'm sure that everyone in this game will really start to respect you as a fighter."

"…Thanks." Sakuya replied with a small smile. "It was an honor facing you, Berserk Healer."

"Same here." Asuna replied.

Soon after, two beams of blue light came down from the sky and struck Asuna and Sakuya. In seconds, the two fighters were teleported off the island.

* * *

Asuna reappeared on the teleport pad inside the crystal stadium. As she looked around, the blunette saw that most of the Bracket A competitors had returned from their respective battles. Asuna assumed that those who had not returned had been PK'd at the end of the battle. Asuna soon spotted Leafa sitting by herself in the corner with a sad look on her face. Out of concern, Asuna went over to see how the blonde was doing.

"Hey there, Leafa." Asuna spoke, getting the blonde sylph's attention. "You okay? Don't tell me you lost."

"Uh, no. I made it to the next round." Leafa answered. "It was just kind of a rough fight. Oh! I caught the end of your battle with Sakuya, by the way. You did really well."

"Thanks." Asuna replied. "Are you sure you're okay, Leafa?"

"I'm fine. Really." Leafa assured her. "I'm just a little wiped out, that's all."

"Well, looks like both of you have made it to the next round." A familiar voice interrupted. Asuna and Leafa looked to see Sakuya approaching them. "I wish you both the best of luck."

"Thanks." Asuna replied.

"You did really well out there, Lady Sakuya." Leafa told her. "That battle outfit of yours is really something else."

"You could get one of those for yourself too, you know." Sakuya told the blonde. "Getting the materials together for it is hard, but it's well worth it."

Suddenly a beam of blue light shot up from the floor of the chamber and Lydia reappeared. "Congratulations to everyone from the first bracket who made it to the next round! Well, that wraps up our tournament for today. Tomorrow we'll be holding the first and second rounds for the Bracket B players. Until next time, I suggest that those of your still fighting in the tournament take the night rest, 'cause you're probably going to need it. This is your MC, Lydia singing off."

With that, Lydia vanished with another flash of blue light. Most of the tournament players began to file out of the stadium. Nytokris passed by Asuna's little group and flashed her an arrogant sneer before heading for the door.

"That's the player known as Nytokris, right?" Sakuya asked. "I've been hearing some pretty nasty rumors about that woman."

"A lot of those rumors are probably true." Leafa responded. "Asuna, one of us has to take Nytokris down. I know that beating her in a tournament may not actually mean much, but…"

"I know." Asuna spoke before Leafa could finish. "Nytokris has a lot to answer for."

"Yes, well… I think I better log out." Sakuya decided. "It's been a very long day. Again, good luck to both of you."

"I think I better log out too." Leafa decided as Sakuya left. "That battle took a lot out of me."

"Yeah. Take it easy, Leafa." Asuna replied. "I'm guessing the tournament's only going to get harder from here."

"I'll say. Especially for you." Leafa told her. "You do know that you'll be up against Lisbeth in the next round, right?"

Asuna's eyes widened a bit. "Wow! Really? That's… that's something I wasn't expecting."

"Well, with practically all of us girls entering, chances were good that something like this was going to happen." Leafa pointed out. "You know… if we both manage to make it past the next round, we'll be fighting each other in the semifinals."

"Yeah… you're right." Asuna realized. "Well… if that happens, I guess we'll both just have to give it our best. No holding back, right?"

"Right." Leafa replied. "Well… see ya."

"Yeah." Asuna replied. "See ya."

* * *

Shortly returning to the real world, Sugu left her room and went downstairs for a bite to eat. She had ended up skipping lunch earlier before logging in to take part in the tournament. When Sugu arrived in the kitchen, she saw Kazuto waiting in front of the counter.

"Hey…" Kazuto spoke. "I saw most of your fight in the tournament. You okay?"

"I'm fine." Sugu answered. "I'm a little surprised that you were watching me though. I thought you would've been watching Asuna's match."

"I was." Kazuto admitted. "And I was able to catch the end of it too. But when Klein told me whom you were up against, I couldn't help but watch. That was a pretty rough fight, huh?"

"I really didn't want to end it that way." Leafa told him. "What bothers me more is how broken up Lotus was over Donis. I imagine that there are probably a lot of other girls in ALO who took his loss just as hard. After all… I'm one of them."

"You know… we've never really talked about how things ended between you and Donis." Kirito spoke as he leaned against the counter. "I mean… after we took him out, you hardly spoke to me at all. Guess I can't blame you though."

Sugu smiled and shook her head. "Kazuto, I don't blame you for what happened with Donis. And as for my feelings for you… I know that we'll never be anything more than family to each other. That's something I accepted a long time ago. Sure, part of the reason I fell for Donis in the first place was because he looked like you, but it wasn't as like I was pretending that you and I had become a couple. You and Donis were alike in a lot of ways, but he was also very different from you too."

"In what way?" Kazuto asked.

"Well, for one thing he was a lot more charming." Sugu answered.

"Not sure how well to take that." Kazuto spoke, half jokingly. "But you're sure you don't have any problems with me because of him?"

"Trust me. The two of us are fine." Sugu assured him. "Really, the past month I've been mourning the person who I thought Donis was, not my relationship with you. The hard thing has been that NPC or not, Donis was pretending to be someone he wasn't. It's been hard, but I've accepted that Donis was never truly the man I fell in love with."

"Well… okay." Kazuto replied as he moved over and put a hand on Sugu's shoulder. "Just remember that I'm always here if you ever need me. Now, how 'bout I make dinner? I'm sure you're starving after the fight you had."

"Thanks." Sugu replied. "That'd be great."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I apologize for this chapter being a bit on the short side, especially where the battle scenes were concerned. This was actually kind of a hard chapter for me to write, and frankly I haven't been quite at my best with the way this week has been going.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	13. The Mask of Nytokris

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Sword Art Online.

* * *

Chapter 13: The Mask of Nytokris

It was midmorning as Asuna sat at the table in her favorite café drinking a cup of tea. Later that afternoon, she planned to log back into ALO to watch the Bracket B fights of the Clash of Queens tournament. At that moment though, Asuna felt like she needed some time to gather her thoughts. Under normal circumstances, another player would've used her day off from the tournament to prepare for the next round, but Asuna was going to be up against two friends; two friends that she was sure that she was not on good terms with. Asuna knew that Rika had an axe to grind with her in the game, and she felt certain that she was going to have a major problem with Sugu as well. While it was true that Sugu acted friendly towards her, Asuna couldn't help but think that her boyfriend's sister was harboring some massive hostility towards her. After all, Asuna had stolen away Sugu's first love, and had helped to destroy her second one.

"Excuse me." A high-pitched voice spoke, shaking Asuna from her thoughts. "This may seem like an inappropriate question, but you wouldn't happen to be an ALfheim Online player called Asuna, would you?"

Asuna looked, and standing next to her table was a woman who stood at only a little over four feet tall and had shoulder-length straight dark-brown hair. She was very scrawny, and though the woman was very short Asuna could tell that she was in her late twenties or early thirties. The woman had on a large pair of glasses with thick black round frames, along with a black blazer over a buttoned white shirt and a short black skirt that only went up just a little past the knee. On the woman's feet was a pair of black high-heeled shoes that did not do much at all to boost her height.

"Um… do I know you?" Asuna asked with a raised eyebrow.

"If you are the Asuna I think you are, then yes." The woman answered. "We have meet before. I have to say that this is my first time encountering someone whose avatar looks almost exactly like their real selves."

"Oh! So you play ALO too." Asuna realized. "Well then, I guess I'm the Asuna you're talking about. My real name is Asuna Yuuki."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Asuna." The woman replied. "My name's Midori Kawakita. You would know me in the game as Iron Lurga."

Asuna saw nearly dropped to the floor. She was totally stunned that the nine-foot tall colossus was mousy-looking woman who was now standing before her.

"You're… you're really Lurga?" Asuna asked. "I… I hardly recognized you."

"I know. My online appearance is radically different from how I really look." Midori replied as she adjusted her glasses. "Mind if I sit down?"

"Um, not at all!" Asuna replied.

"I have to say, it really is strange seeing someone from an online game look exactly as they do in the real world." Midori remarked as she sat down. "Did you use some special code to make your avatar match how you really look?"

"Actually, my avatar in ALO was originally from a game you might know called Sword Art Online." Asuna revealed. "Not long after the game had started, everyone playing the game had their avatars reset to match how we look in the real world."

"Oh my! You're really a survivor from that death game?" an amazed Midori asked. "And so young too. And despite living through that horror, you continue to dive into another VRMMO like ALO. You really are tough. Certainly nothing like me."

"Hey. You gave me a pretty hard time in our tournament battle." Asuna pointed out. "Of course I never expected that your avatar would be so different from how you really look."

"Yes, well… that was by design." Midori admitted. "I've always been a little bit sensitive about my height, and the fact that I've never been very athletic never helped matters either. In school, gym class was always a nightmare for me. I always wished I could be bigger and stronger. Then when I started reading about these VRMMOS and how a person's virtual avatar could be totally different from their real world body, I decided to try it out for myself. When it came time to make my character, I picked the fairy race that had the toughest-looking model. Later after I set down in ALO, I found that for the very first time I was _tall_.

"I was absolutely thrilled! In that world, I didn't have to look up at people to look them in the eye. Of course being tall simply wasn't enough. I wanted to be strong too. So I put myself through intense physical training in the game to get as strong as I possibly could. You've seen the results for yourself. In this world all I am is a tiny little reference librarian, but in that virtual world I'm a titan. I hope you don't think less of me now that you've seen behind my mask."

"Not at all. I totally understand your reasons." Asuna told her. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Kawakita."

"Please. Call me Midori." The spectacled woman told her. "There's no need to be so formal, Asuna. In fact, I'm actually honored to have been able to meet such a strong player in real life."

"Well this is a surprise." A familiar voice interrupted. Asuna and Midori looked to see Shino suddenly standing next to the table. "Guess you like this café too, huh Asuna?"

"Hi Shino." The redhead responded. "Um, I'd like you to meet a new friend of mine, Midori. I actually know her from ALO. Midori, this one of my friends, Shino Asada."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Shino." Midori responded. "Do you play ALO as well?"

"Actually I do." Shino confirmed. "So just how do you and Asuna know each other?"

"I was her very first opponent in the Clash of Queens tournament." Midori answered.

Shino blinked in surprise. "You're Iron Lurga? One of the strongest tank players in the game?"

"I prefer to think of myself as the strongest, but yes." Midori confirmed. "So, since we're all being transparent here, care to tell me about your online alter ego?"

"Um, I'm the one they call the Phantom Arrow." Shino answered. "I'm sorry, but are you really Iron Lurga?"

"What's going on here?" another voice cut in. Asuna and the others looked to see Nakuru approaching. "Shino, these more friends of yours?"

"Uh, yeah. Mostly." Shino confirmed. "Asuna, this is a friend of mine from school, Nakuru Kitamori."

"It's nice to meet you." Asuna responded.

"Likewise." Nakuru replied. "It's rare for me to run into Shino's friends outside of school."

Asuna couldn't help but find something familiar about Nakuru's voice. "Say, have we met before somewhere?"

"No. I don't think so." Nakuru answered. "Anyway, I gottan run Shino. We still on for dinner later tonight?"

"You bet." Shino answered. "I'll try not to be late."

"Good. There's actually something I want to talk to you about then." Nakuru replied. "Well, later."

With that, Nakuru exited the café, leaving Shino with Asuna and Midori.

"Hey Asuna, what was with that question you asked Nakuru?" Shinon asked. "Do you really think you know her from somewhere?"

"I don't know. Her voice just sounded familiar to me somehow." Asuna answered. "I feel like I've heard it before, but I just can't place it."

"I think I can." Midori spoke. "I have a talent for recognizing voices, and I can tell you that Ms. Nakuru sounds almost exactly like that loathsome Nytokris woman from ALO."

Asuna gasped at the realization. "You're right! How could I ever forget that voice?"

"Forgive me for sounding harsh, but I'm rather disappointed that you're friends with someone like that, Ms. Shino." Midori told her. "I've encountered Nytokris a few times myself, and I can tell you that she really is a loathsome woman. There are even some nasty rumors floating around about her in the game, like how she likes to conduct orgies with the raiding parties she goes on after defeating a boss."

"I don't know about any of that, but I do know Nytokris is a bitch." Asuna remarked. "The whole reason I entered this tournament was to take her down."

"Hey! You two don't know what the hell you're talking about." Shino told them. "For one thing, I don't think Nakuru even plays ALO. And even if she does, she's nothing like the person you're talking about."

"Don't be so sure." Midori told her. "We all put on masks when we enter these online games. I'm living proof of that. The Nakuru that you know could be a very different person from how she is online."

"Shino, I think you should be careful." Asuna told her. "If your friend really is the person we think she is, than she could be dangerous."

"I don't give a rat's ass what you think right now!" Shino shot back. "You can take whatever else you think about Nakuru and shove it! Because I'm not at all interested!"

With that, Shino stormed out of the café. As she left, Asuna let out a heavy sigh.

"I'm sorry Asuna. Perhaps I shouldn't have said anything to her." Midori assumed.

"Don't worry about it." Asuna replied. "Well… I guess I've got one more friend who's mad at me now."

* * *

The tournament battles were about to start up again as Asuna arrived back at the crystal stadium with Lurga. When the duo arrived, Asuna quickly spotted Silica and went over to see them. The blunette noticed that Sinon was there too, but the archer made no attempt to come over and greet them.

"Hi Silica!" Asuna spoke as she came over.

"Oh hey!" the young dragon tamer responded. "I wasn't expecting to see you here today, Asuna. I mean your next battle isn't until tomorrow."

"I know, but I still wanted to come and give you support." Asuna replied. "By the way, you remember my opponent from the first round, Lurga, right? She and I have kinda hit it off."

"What's hanging, squirt?" Lurga spoke.

"Hi." Silica responded with a somewhat displeased expression as Lurga's greeting. "Anyway Asuna, I'm probably not going to do real well in this tournament. This'll probably be my only battle."

"Don't sell yourself short, Silica." Asuna told her. "After all, you were able to survive SAO. This tournament shouldn't be any problem."

"This kid survived SAO too?" an amazed Lurga asked. "Damn! You must be an amazing player, Silica."

"Well, I do okay." Silica replied. "But I really don't think I'm going to get very far in this tournament. I mean… look at who my opponent in this first round is."

Asuna looked up at the holographic screen showing the brackets for the tournament. It didn't take her long to see that Nytokris was slated as Silica's first opponent.

Soon after this revelation, Lydia appeared in the large chamber with a dazzling flash of blue light. "Good afternoon, everyone! Welcome to the second day of our first ever Clash of Queens tournament! For today, we'll be holding the first and second round battles for the Bracket B players. Just like before, all the battles will be held simultaneously. Those of you watching from around ALO or at home can pick and stream the specific battle you want to watch. Now then, all Bracket B players please head over to the teleport pads."

"Well, wish me luck." Silica told the others.

"Be careful, Silica." Asuna told her.

With that, Silica headed over to one of the blue teleport pads with Pina flying close behind. As soon as the dragon tamer and her pet stepped onto the pad, a beam of blue light shot up from around Silica's feet and sent them out of the stadium.

* * *

The blue beam of light from the teleport pad set Silica and Pina down in a lush dense forest in sylph territory that the dragon tamer knew as the Deep Emerald Woods. The leaves from the trees were so thick that they practically blocked out the sun. Silica always felt uneasy traveling through those woods because of the high monster encounter rate. Of course there was no chance of encountering any monsters this time around, but Silica had a feeling that her opponent was going to be worse than any monster the game could throw at her. After a few moments, another beam of blue light hit the ground a few feet away from where Silica was standing and faded to reveal Nytokris.

"Oh great. So I'm up against you in the first round, eh?" Nytokris observed with a bored expression. "I was hoping that my first opponent would at least be an amusing diversion. Ah well. I guess this means that at least I won't be here long."

"You better not sell me short!" Silica warned as she took out her dagger. "I may be small and just a little unskilled, but I'm no pushover!"

"Is that a fact?" Nytokris replied as she pulled out a dagger of her own. "Then show me what you're made of, little girl."

Soon after, a holographic timer appeared in the air above the two fighters and began to tick away the seconds. When the clock hit zero, Silica charged across the battlefield to stab Nytokris with her knife. The young dragon tamer had only gotten half way across the field though when Nytokris threw her own blade at her opponent. The flying dagger struck Silica in her upper left arm and took off a good chunk of her HP. Just as Silica was about to pull her opponent's knife from her arm, Nytokris dashed over with incredible speed and kicked her in the stomach, knocking her into the side of a tree several feet behind her.

The impact from hitting the tree had taken Silica's HP close to the yellow zone. Pina quickly flew over and breathed a blue mist over her master's body, recovering some of Silica's lost HP. Meanwhile, Nytokris had dashed off into the woods.

"Thanks Pina." Silica spoke as she got back up. "I totally wasn't expecting her to attack like that."

"The knife throwing skill I just used against you isn't exactly my greatest strength, but it is more than affective against an opponent of your caliber." Nytokris spoke from somewhere in the woods. Silica looked around to try and figure out where the silver-haired imp's voice was coming from but couldn't pinpoint the source. "There are also some pretty useful trick that knife throwing is good for, but I doubt that I'll need any of them here."

"Where are you?" Silica asked as she continued to look around. "Show yourself!"

Suddenly a fast-moving object came out from behind the tree and Silica heard Pina squeal. When the dragon tamer looked up, she saw Nytokris holding Pina by the neck. The imp woman produced another dagger as Pina frantically tried to squirm free.

"So this little thing also helps you recover your HP." Nytokris observed as she held the blade of her knife close to the dragon's stomach. "That could get a little annoying. I think I'll finish this vermin off before I deal with you."

"Wait!" Silica called just as Nytokris was about to stab the little dragon in the stomach. "Please… I don't want you to hurt Pina."

With that, Silica brought up her menu screen and clicked on a single command. Soon after, the timer vanished and was replace by a message showing that Silica had surrendered the match. Another message declaring Nytokris the winner appeared a split second afterward.

Nytokris let out a cold laugh as she threw Pina back down towards Silica. "Now that was pitiful! Getting so worked up over something so small that you'd throw the match."

"How could you be so cruel?" Silica asked as she cradled a frightened Pina in her arms.

"I was just doing what I thought I needed to win." Nytokris told her. "If you can't handle that sort of thing, than you should just stay out of these fights, little girl."

Before Silica could try to respond, a beam of blue light came down from above through the trees and teleported Silica and Pina out of the woods.

* * *

Sinon returned to the stadium after completing her first fight in the tournament. Her opponent was a tough axe-wielding leprechaun called Chromia, but in the end the leprechaun was no match of Sinon's invisibility and her power to shoot arrows through phantom portals. As Sinon stepped off the teleport pad, she noticed Asuna sitting on a bench next to Silica, with Lurga standing right by them with her arms crossed. Silica had fresh tears on her eyes and was cradling a tense Pina in her arms. Out of concern, Sinon went over to see what had happened.

"What's going on here?" Sinon asked. "Is everything okay?"

"Silica was forced to surrender her battle." Asuna told the archer.

"She was going to hurt Pina." Silica spoke. "I… I just couldn't let that happen!"

"The kid was up against Nytokris." Lurga revealed. "Well Arrow? What do you think of that friend of yours now?"

Silica looked at Sinon with an expression of shock. "Sinon. Are… are you really friends with that woman?"

"Hey! We don't know who Nytokris is IRL!" Sinon pointed out.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Lurga told her. "We could hear Nytokris talking in that joke of a battle, and there's no doubt in my mind. Her voice is exactly the same as the woman Asuna and I saw with you at that café."

"She's right, Sinon." Asuna told her as she stood from the bench. "There's no doubt in my mind that your friend and Nytokris are the same person."

"Sinon! How could you possibly be friends with a woman like that?" Silica asked. "She's evil!"

"What the hell are all of you talking about?" Sinon asked. "I'm not saying one way or another that Nakuru is Nytokris, but just what did she do in that battle that was so bad?"

"She grabbed Pina as was about to kill her right in front of Silica's eyes." Asuna coldly answered. "Pina may be just an NPC, but that kind of move was way over the line! It would've been like if Nytokris had threatened to kill Yui!"

"Okay! Now I'm more convinced than ever that Nakuru isn't this woman you're talking about." Sinon told them. "There's no way she'd ever do something that cruel!"

"You sure about that, Arrow?" Lurga asked. "Like I told you before, we all wear masks inside games like these. But there are also some people who wear those masks in the real world. The Nakuru you know may not be the friend you think she is."

"I still don't buy that Nakuru and Nytokris are the same person." Sinon declared.

"Well… you'll be able to find out for yourself soon enough." Lurga told her. "Just check out who you're up against in the next round."

Sinon looked up at the giant screen showing the tournament brackets and saw what Lurga was talking about. She was up against Nytokris in the next round. A few minutes later, all of the remaining fights in the first round had wrapped up. Once all of the surviving players had returned, Lydia reappeared with a flash of blue light.

"Congrats to all of you ladies who made it past the first round!" Lydia praised. "The round to fights for the Bracket B players will begin in five minutes, so you better get ready."

"Well Sinon, now you're going to get a chance to see just what your friend is really like in this game." Asuna told her.

"We'll see about that." Sinon told her. "I'm going to use this battle to prove that Nakuru isn't the woman you think she is!"

* * *

Please review and let me know what you think.


	14. Battle of Seduction

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Sword Art Online, nor do I own the works of H.P. Lovecraft.

* * *

Chapter 14: Battle of Seduction

The five-minute break in the Clash of Queens tournament quickly came and went, and the surviving players in Bracket B were quickly teleported away to the venues of their respective battles. The beam from Sinon's teleport pad had set her down in the dead underground city of K'n-yan. Sinon was quite pleased that the city had been selected as her battlefield, for she knew the dungeon like the back of her hand from her time in the Order of Yig and thus knew the best places to launch her arrows from. Despite having a sort of home field advantage though, Sinon found that she was very nervous about the battle that was to come due to whom she was up against. Though the archer denied the claims that Nytokris and Nakuru were one and the same, there was a part of Sinon that wondered if perhaps the accusations were true. After all, the voices of Nakuru and Nytokris were practically identical to one another. Sinon hoped very much though that the accusations of Asuna and the others were untrue, because she wasn't sure if she could take the idea of Nakuru being the monster that everyone said Nytokris was.

A few moments later, another beam of blue light came down and struck the ground a few feet from where Sinon was standing. The beam of light quickly faded to reveal Sinon's silver-haired opponent.

Nytokris looked across the field towards the fairy archer and chucked. "Hello, dear Sinon. It really is delightful to see you again."

"Are we supposed to know each other?" Sinon asked.

"Oh come now, my pet. Surly you can figure out who I am." Nytokris replied with a playful smirk. "I'm well aware of how different I look, but trust me. You and I have been very close."

Sinon was very unsettled by how Nytokris insisted that they knew each other. The implication made it seem even more like Nytokris might actually be Nakuru. Yet Sinon just couldn't believe it. For one thing, she had never told Nakuru about her virtual life in ALO. Sinon hadn't even told Nakuru about her time in GGO. The fairy archer was so distracted that she hardly noticed that the timer for the fight had appeared. When the timer beeped to signal the start of the battle, Sinon snapped back to reality and prepared to move.

Before the blunette could raise her hood though, Nytokris dashed over with incredible speed, took hold of the archer's face, and planted a very firm and passionate kiss on Sinon's lips. Sinon was left so totally stunned that she didn't try to push Nytokris away.

After a few moments, Nytokris pulled away and licked her lips. "Delicious. It's a real shame that I'm going to have to do away with you now."

As soon as Nytokris began to reach for her sword, Sinon came back to reality and jumped back before her opponent could slash her in the stomach. Once a safe distance away, Sinon pulled up the hood of her enchanted coat and became totally invisible. The fairy archer dashed past Nytokris and went into a small stone hut with a peculiar hexagonal shape. The inside of the hut contained only a few pieces of ancient furniture. Safe inside her hiding place, a very flustered Sinon tried very hard to compose herself but was having an almost impossible time doing so. She couldn't believe that Nytokris… that perhaps Nakuru… had kissed her like that. What really threw Sinon for a loop though was that she found she had actually enjoyed the kiss very much.

Outside, Nytokris remained standing where she was and chuckled. "Planning to attack me from the shadows, eh? Go ahead and try. Don't be surprised though if I'm much harder to take down than your usual prey."

Sinon couldn't help but noticed just how much Nytokris's voice sounded like Nakuru's. The sound of the imp woman's voice was throwing off the fairy archer's voice even more. Sinon at last managed to focus though and switched on her ability to see portals at different angles in space. The reason that Sinon had chosen that particular stone hut wasn't simply because it was a convenient hiding spot, it was because the different corners of the hut gave her multiple portals from which to fire her arrows though. In moments, Sinon could see multiple small holes in space that showed Nytokris from different angles and distances, almost as if she were watching her opponent through multiple cameras.

Taking a deep breath, Sinon fired an arrow up through a portal at a corner on her left where the roof of the hut met the walls. Seconds later, that same arrow sailed through the air up from a spot where the foundation of another hut across the street met the ground and went towards the back of Nytokris's head. At the last second though, Nytokris turned around and knocked the arrow away with her sword. Though startled that the imp woman was able to block the attack, Sinon quickly fired another arrow, this time at a spot where the wall on her right met the ground. The second arrow seemed to come out the window of a neighboring hut and came at Nytokris from her left, but the silver-haired swordswoman quickly turned and blocked the arrow with her sword just as she had done before.

Sinon began to fire her arrows in a quick succession through several different portals, but somehow Nytokris was able to spin around just in time to block each arrow with her sword. It wasn't simply that Nytokris was just too fast. Sinon soon realized that somehow the imp woman was able to predict just where each of her arrows was coming from. Despite this, Sinon continued to fire off more arrows, trying to be as random as possible with the portals she picked to try and throw her opponent off. Despite the archer's efforts though, Nytokris was still able to block every single one of her arrows. Eventually Sinon's quiver began to run low. With one of the five arrows she had left, the archer fired her attack from a corner where two of the walls met behind her on her left.

The arrow came out from the window of a hut directly behind Nytokris, but at the last second Nytokris turned around and caught the projectile with her left hand. Smirking, Nytokris snapped the arrow in half.

"It's been fun, dearest, but I'm sure that you've almost run out of arrows by now." Nytokris remarked. "What's say we go ahead and end this?"

Sinon quickly readied another arrow and decided to fire it through the doorway of the hut. She had a straight shot at Nytokris from where she was standing. Before Sinon could open fire though, Nytokris swiftly put away her sword and threw a dagger through the doorway of the hut. The knife struck Sinon in the stomach and caused her HP gauge to take a slight drop. The loss of HP was nothing though, because soon after being hit Sinon found that her body was totally frozen. On her heads-up display, Sinon saw the icon for paralysis appear next to her HP gauge.

"I knew where you were hiding the whole time, my pet." Nytokris spoke as she approached the doorway to the hut. "You were in such a hurry to make it into this little shack that you failed to conceal your footsteps. Invisibility only prevents your opponents from seeing you, not hearing you."

After entering the hut, Nytokris felt around and eventually found the edge of Sinon's hood. Once the silver-haired imp pulled the hood down, Sinon became completely visible.

"If you're wondering why you're paralyzed, the dagger I struck you with was treated with a rare toxin called Gorgon's Tears." Nytokris continued. "It leaves the victim's body frozen like a statue for at least ten minutes. In other words, you're totally at my mercy. But I'm not going to finish you off just yet. First I want to have a little fun."

With that, Nytokris around the frozen archer and got behind her. A second later, Sinon felt Nytokris's right hand touch her thigh and grab onto her rear. At the same time, the archer could feel Nytorkis's hot breath on the back of her neck. The imp woman then began to kiss and suck on a very sensitive spot on Sinon's neck, causing a moan of pleasure to escape her throat. Sinon couldn't help but think about all the times Nakuru had helped to adjust her form in archery class. What was happening to Sinon at that moment was almost the same, only more passionate. In that moment, Sinon found herself hoping that Nakuru really was Nytokris.

Just as it seemed like Nytokris was about to grope Sinon's chest, the silver-haired imp pulled away and sighed. "Well, I suppose I should finish you off now. We are in the middle of a tournament battle after all."

Nytorkis drew her sword again and began to strike Sinon multiple times in the back. In just over a minute, Sinon's HP dropped to zero and her body was reduced to a ball of flames. From Sinon's perspective, everything had gone grey and a small timer had appeared before her eyes.

Nytokris moved around so that Sinon could look at her. "I really enjoyed this little encounter of our, my pet. If you want to have even more fun, come and find me."

With that, Nytokris walked out of the stone hut as the timer in front of Sinon's eyes ticked away. Once the timer hit zero, Sinon was pulled away through a tunnel of light.

* * *

After passing through the tunnel of light, Shino's eyes snapped open to find the ceiling of her darkened bedroom. The dark-haired girl slipped off the amusphere she was wearing and slowly sat up on her bed, feeling totally confused about everything that had just happened to her. Shino not only still had no idea about whether or not Nakuru and Nytokris were the same person, it also seemed like she was attracted to Nakuru sexually; perhaps even had romantic feelings for her. Of course the very idea of that left Shino with a still even larger question. Was she attracted to other girls?

There was no doubt in Shino's mind that she was attracted to boys. She had at one time had a large crush on Kirito that began after their shared experience in GGO, and Shino could not deny that the sexual relationship she once had with Donis had been amazing. Yet as she thought back to other moments of her life, particularly when she had first met Kirito, Shino had to admit that she had found Kirito's very feminine avatar in GGO to be pretty attractive. There had also been a few other times earlier in her past when Shino had found certain other girls to be especially cute. Plus Shino couldn't deny that the kiss Nytokris had planted on her right when their battle had started felt simply amazing.

Shino pondered these feelings for several more moments before flopping back onto the bed to look at the ceiling. As she stared up at the ceiling, Shino began to turn the events of her battle with Nytokris over and over in her mind, particularly about the kiss and about what Nytokris did to her towards the end. Shino played those moments over and over again in her mind, and as she did so her hand drifted down and slipped under her black shorts and into her panties. As Shino slowly began to probe herself, the image of Nytokris kissing her in the stone hut was replaced by an image of Nakuru trying to correct her form in archery club. Shino started to imagine that it was Nakuru's hand probing her womanhood instead of her own, and within minutes she was hit by a fairly strong orgasm.

After coming down from her high, Shino removed her hand and sighed heavily, draping her left arm over her eyes. It did seem like she truly had an attraction to Nakuru, though there was still a strong part of her that was uncertain about these feelings. Suddenly the smart phone lying on Shino's nightstand began to ring. Sinon groaned and picked the phone up to see just who was calling. Upon seeing Nakuru's name displayed on the Caller I.D., Shino gasped and sat straight up on the bed.

Shino took a deep breath and hit the button to answer the call before putting the phone to her ear. "Hi Nakuru! What's up?"

 _"You okay Shino?"_ Nakuru's voice asked over the line. _"You sound a little off."_

"It's, um… it's nothing. You just kinda caught me in the middle of something." Shino answered. "It's no big deal though."

 _"Oh. Well, I just wanted to make sure that we were still on for dinner here in a few hours."_ Nakuru responded.

"Oh… right!" Shino recalled. "I almost forgot. Um, we're eating at the usual place, right?"

 _"Yep. Nothing fancy."_ Nakuru confirmed. _"I'll see you there in three, okay?"_

"Yeah. I'll be there." Shinon answered. "Later."

With that, Shino hung up the phone and let out a deep sigh. She had totally forgotten about her dinner plans with Nakuru earlier, and now after having this revelation about Nakuru she found that she was very nervous about the evening. Shino felt certain that it was going to be a very awkward dinner, to say the least. In fact, Shino felt like she might end up doing something that could totally screw up her friendship with Nakuru. As the dark-haired girl tried to figure out what to do though, Shino recalled how one of the other students in archery club had once told her how she thought Nakuru was hot for her with the way she would help Shino adjust her form during practice.

Shino really began to wonder if perhaps Nakuru was also attracted to her physically. After all, there were a few times when it seemed like Nakuru would use those little "adjustments" during practice to try and cop a feel. Plus is Nakuru really was Nytokris… of course there was no way at the moment for Shino to tell if those two really were the same person. She had to admit that it was totally possible to Nakuru to have logged out of ALO right after their battle to give her that call, considering how the tournament was set up. Yet there was still no definitive way for Shino to tell just who Nytokris was in real life, even though Nytokris had implied that they both knew each other very well.

After a few moments, Shino pushed the question about Nakuru's possible online alter ego from her mind and worked on the more urgent matter of getting ready for her dinner date. Shino turned on the lights in her room and spend the next few hours before the dinner going through every piece of clothing in her closet to try and find the perfect outfit. Eventually she settled on a long-sleeved navy blue shirt with a short tan skirt that really showed off her legs. Satisfied with her appearance, Shino finally headed out the door to meet with Nakuru. As she walked out the door, Shino found that she felt more nervous than she had ever felt before in her life.

* * *

Shino's dinner with Nakuru had been very casual, but the whole time Shino felt quite nervous. She also couldn't help but take in everything about Nakuru's appearance during the whole dinner. Nakuru had such shiny luxurious brown hair, and Shino couldn't help but get lost in Nakuru's deep grey eyes. Plus, because of the light-green V-neck shirt that Nakuru was wearing under the black leather jacket she had on, Shino found herself looking at the other girl's cleavage more than a couple of times. In short, Shino found Nakuru to be one of the most beautiful women she had ever laid eyes on.

Of course Shino's attraction to Nakuru simply wasn't physical. Nakuru was kind, smart, and almost always seemed to have an answer to whatever problem Shino was facing. Shino wasn't sure if she was head over heels in love with Nakuru, but she couldn't deny that she clearly saw Nakuru as more than just another friend. The new issue though was that now that Shino's true feelings for Nakuru had come to the surface, she found she was afraid that Nakuru wouldn't feel the same way that she did. During the whole dinner, Shino found herself suddenly wishing that Nakuru and Nytokris really were, because that would at least mean that Nakuru did have the same feelings for her.

Eventually dinner came to an end, and Shino headed out to the street corner with Nakuru. As they reached the intersection, Nakuru began to talk about something else but Shino wasn't listening. She was once again too busy just drinking in the way Nakuru looked and spoke that she didn't hear what Nakuru was actually saying.

"Shino!" Nakuru spoke once they reached the street corner, snapping the dark-haired girl to reality. "Are you even listening to me?"

"Uh, sorry." Shino responded. "I've… I've got a lot on my mind, I guess."

Nakuru let out a heavy sigh. "Dammit Shino. You haven't been listening to a single thing I've been saying all night! What's wrong with you, anyway?"

"Well, I…" Shino began.

"You know what? Forget it!" Nakuru interrupted. "I had something pretty important to tell you tonight, but I can see that you're not at all interested. Let's just call it…"

Before Nakuru could finish, Shino grabbed her by the arm, and then moved in and kissed her hard on the lips. When Shino finally broke away, Nakuru just stood there with a stunned expression. Shino quickly realized that she had probably just made a huge mistake.

"I…I'm sorry!" Shino told her as she face turned bright red. "I don't know what got into me! I just… I just didn't want you to leave, so…"

Before Shino could finish, Nakuru suddenly pulled her close and returned her earlier kiss. The kiss soon deepened, and their tongues had started to grind against one another as Nakuru pushed Shino against the wall of the building they had been standing by. When they broke for air, Nakuru began to attack Shino's neck with her lips, quickly finding a very sensitive area that caused Shino to moan with pleasure.

"N… Na… Nakuru!" Shino managed to call out.

Upon hearing her name, Nakuru came back to her senses and pulled away. "Uh… wow! Sorry about that. I guess when you kissed me before, the dam just kinda burst."

Shino blinked in surprised. "What… what do you mean?"

"This is what I wanted to talk with you about, Shino." Nakuru began as she took a deep breath. "I've had a crush on you ever since I first laid eyes on you. Everything about you is just so cute. And as we've been spending more and more time together, my feelings for you have just been getting stronger. I've tried holding myself back, but it's just been getting harder and harder for me. I decided that I had to tell you how I felt, even though it might ruin this friendship we have."

"So… you really are attracted to me?" Shino asked.

"Yeah, a lot." Nakuru confirmed. "And I'm sorry if I got a little too 'hands-on' with you during club practice."

"Uh, it's fine. Don't worry about it." Shino told her. "Obviously I feel the same way. So, um… have you ever been involved with any other girls before?"

"I was in a couple of other relationships with girls at my old school, but they both fizzled out." Nakuru answered. "But you, Shino… to be honest, I'm pretty surprised. I mean you had an ex-boyfriend, so I figured that you wouldn't be at all interested in me in… that way. In fact I can't really believe things are really turning out like this."

"Well… there is one way for both of us to be sure how we both feel for each other." Shino began. "Wanna come over to my apartment? I live alone, you know."

"Oh… wow!" Nakuru exclaimed. "Are… are you being serious right now?"

"Totally." Shino answered.

"Okay, but… are you sure you want to take things this far?" Nakuru asked. "I mean we don't have to move so fast, you know."

"I know, but there are some things I need to be sure about." Shino told Nakuru as she took her hand. "So come on. Let's see how we really feel about each other."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I will admit that I felt a little bit out of my comfort zone a few times while writing this chapter. I'd like to take this moment to apologize if this chapter was not my best work. Otherwise, I hope everyone reading enjoyed it.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	15. Grand Experiment

**Author's Note:** I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed the last chapter for their kind response to it. For some reason I was pretty sure that it'd get some pretty negative backlash. Anyway, I hope everyone reading enjoys this next chapter as we see Shino/Sinon "explore the final frontier."

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Sword Art Online.

* * *

Chapter 15: Grand Experiment

It hadn't taken very along for Shino to arrive back at her apartment with Nakuru. As they entered, the two of them shared a feeling of excitement about what they were planning to do, but also a bit of apprehension. Shino was especially unsure about what she and Nakuru were planning, and yet she wanted to go on regardless. There were just some things that Shino needed to be sure about. As soon as the two girls slipped off their shoes, and as soon as Nakuru hung up her jacket on a hook by the door, the two of them entered the small living of the apartment.

"This is a nice place you have, Shino." Nakuru remarked as she looked around with her hands in her pockets.

"Uh, thanks. This apartment is small, but it's also cheap." Shino replied as she took off her glasses and set them on the coffee table. "So, um… I'm ready for this if you are."

"You know we really don't have to do this." Nakuru reminded her. "I mean, if you're not sure about this…"

In response, Shino took a deep breath and pulled off her shirt, tossing it to a random corner of the room. The dark-haired girl then slipped off her skirt and tossed it away with a flick of her leg. Nakuru bit her lower lip as she looked at Shino standing there, wearing nothing but a white bra and panties.

"I don't think I've ever been more sure of anything right now." Shion told Nakuru as she sauntered over to her. "I want us to do this, Nakuru."

With that, Shino planted a fiery kiss on Nakuru's lips. Nakuru returned and deepened the kiss, and soon the little inhibition that the brown-haired girl still had was quickly starting to dissolve. Somewhere along the line as their tongues mingled, Shino began to pull up Nakuru's shirt. When they finally parted for air, Nakuru raised her arms and allowed Shino to pull the garment all the way off. As Shino tossed the shirt away to another random corner of the room, Nakuru undid her belt and pulled down the pair of jeans she was wearing.

Shino took a step back to take a better look at Nakuru. The brown-haired girl simply looked stunning in only the black lace bra and panties that she had on. Shino couldn't help but feel as though she were gazing at some angel of love that had come down from the heavens.

"Guess there's no going back for either of us now, huh?" Nakuru realized as she pulled Shino into another embrace.

"No… I guess not." Shino replied.

The two of them pulled together into yet another passionate kiss. As their tongues wrestled with one another, Nakuru's hands skillfully undid the clasp of Shino's bra. When they broke again for air, Nakuru tossed the white undergarment away and smirked as she looked at Shino's perky breasts. Soon after, Nakuru undid her own bra and tossed it away. As they moved in to kiss again, Shino's left hand began to massage Nakuru's breast, causing the brown-haired girl to moan into Shino's mouth.

Eventually they broke apart for air again, and Shino turned around, removed her panties, and took a pose as if she were holding a bow and arrow. "Well? Is my form okay?"

"Oh, your form is just perfect." Nakuru declared as she took hold of Shino from behind.

Nakuru began to kiss and suck on Shino's neck, landing on a particularly sensitive spot that caused mews of pleasure to escape from the dark-haired girl's throat. At the same time, both of Nakuru's hands began to massage Shino's breasts. Practically all rational thought had vanished from Shino's mind as she became lost in the sweet pleasure torture that was being inflicted on her. All the while, that special place between Shino's legs was becoming like Niagara Falls.

"Na… Nakuru! Do it to me!" Shino begged.

Within a few moments, Nakuru's right hand moved down towards Shino's crotch and began to massage her opening. Eventually, two of Nakuru's fingers finally penetrated Shino's womanhood, causing the dark-haired girl to let out a deep moan. Shino became totally lost in pleasure as Nakuru's fingers pumped in and out of her, and at the same time the brown-haired girl's other hand was still busy massaging Shino's breast. An eternity seemed to go by before Shino's inner walls tightened around Nakuru's fingers, and before long she was hit by a massive orgasm. As Shino came down from her high, she felt more sure than ever that her attract to Nakuru was real.

"So? How was I?" Nakuru asked with a cocky smirk.

Shino smirked back as she turned around in Nakuru's arms. "Let me show you."

With that, Shino got down on both knees and planted a few fiery kisses on Nakuru's toned stomach. Before long, the dark-haired girl pulled down Nakuru's panties to her ankles. After a brief moment of hesitation, Shino moved in and began to probe Nakuru's womanhood with her tongue.

Nakuru let out a soft moan and gently grabbed the back of Shino's head. "Oh… yeah! That's my girl! You have no idea how long I've wanted this."

Shino continued to probe Nakuru's opening for what almost seemed like an eternity. Eventually Nakuru began to buck her hips to try and help herself along. Then at long last, Nakuru threw her head back and let out a silent scream as she came to a blissful climax. Shino got back to her feet as Nakuru came down from her high.

"…Hey. Where's your bedroom?" Nakuru suddenly asked.

"Um, back there." Shino answered as she pointed to the door at the back corner of the living room. "Why?"

Nakuru answered the question by suddenly picking Shino up bridal style and heading for the door. Shino's face quickly turned a deep shade of red.

"Um, I could've just walked there, you know." Shino pointed out. "I mean you shouldn't strain yourself."

"Oh please. You're light as a feather." Nakuru told her as they went through the doorway.

After gently setting Shino down on the bed, Nakuru got on top of her and the two began another round of passionate kissing. They rolled around on the small bed a few times before finally breaking apart again for air. Nakuru rose back up and straddled Shino for a moment before lifting the dark-haired girl's leg. With a few adjustments, Nakuru got it so that their two openings were pressed against one another. After Shino gave her a nod, Nakuru began to buck her hips into the dark-haired girl.

The bedframe creaked and the headboard banged against the wall. Shino briefly thought that the noise might disturb the neighbors, but at that moment she really didn't give a damn. The two of them continued on like that for several minutes, their bodies becoming covered in sweat. Eventually Shino felt herself coming close to the edge and informed Nakuru, causing the brown-haired girl to quicken her pace. Then at long last, the two of them managed to hit their climax at almost the exact same moment.

Soon after catching her breath, Nakuru collapsed back onto the bed next to Shino and gave her a light kiss on the forehead. Afterwards, Nakuru glanced at the nightstand and noticed Shino's amusphere sitting on the top of it by the alarm clock.

"This might be a super weird thing to bring up right now, but are you one of those VRMMO players?" Nakuru suddenly asked.

"Oh! Um, yeah." Shino answered, realizing why Nakuru had brought up the subject. The question then caused her earlier encounter with Nytokris to mind. "But… you're one too, right?"

"What're you talking about?" Nakuru asked with a quirked brow.

"I'm talking about earlier tonight in ALO when we fought each other?" Shino reminded her. "At least I'm pretty sure that was you. I mean the person I fought had the same voice. Plus she did seem to know who I was. I don't know how, but you were able to figure out who I was in this world, right?"

"Shino, I've never played one of those online virtual games before in my life." Nakuru informed her. "My young brother, Yusuke… he was one of the people who got trapped in that Sword Art Online game a few years ago. He was one of the lucky ones who made it out alive, and he was even one of the really lucky ones who was logged out of the game right away. Not like those poor people who that one psycho in the news experimented on. My point though is that I've never really trusted these online gaming machines."

Shino could see in Nakuru's eyes that she was really telling the truth. "So… that really wasn't you earlier tonight?"

"Afraid not." Nakuru answered. "What exactly in this game anyway?"

Shino rolled onto her other side so that she was facing away from Nakuru. "I'm such an idiot. I was so sure that it was you who had come onto me in ALO… that you really had feelings for me. But in the end I fell for something that wasn't real, just like with my bastard of an ex-boyfriend."

"But Shino… I really do have feelings for you." Nakuru pointed out. "I mean I wouldn't gone to bed with you if I didn't. I don't know who this other girl you met online is or what exactly happened between you two, but your instincts about how I felt about you were right. Look, I don't know how serious things are going to get between us, but I know that what we both feel for each other isn't an illusion. So don't beat yourself up, okay?"

Shino turned back around to face Nakuru. "Okay."

After a few moments, the two of them began to kiss again, and they rolled on the bed again a few times until Shino was once again on her back. Nakuru then began to move down and leave a trail of fiery kisses down the length of Shino's body before getting down to the dark-haired girl's waist. In moments, Nakuru began to probe Shino's womanhood with her tongue, causing all the anxiety Shino had been feeling earlier to vanish. Shino eventually took hold of the back of Nakuru's head and began to buck her hips, and then after another sweet eternity of pleasure, Shino climaxed. As Shino caught her breath, Nakuru climbed back onto the bed and pulled the blanket over them both. Nakuru then pulled Shino close and gave her a light kiss on the forehead. Within moments, the two of them drifted off to sleep in each other's arms.

* * *

After the second round for the Clash of Queens tournament had ended for the Bracket B players, the remaining competitors were given a day off before the start of the quarter final rounds to give them a chance to rest and strategize ways to take down their next opponents. While Asuna and the other remaining contestants had used that day to prepare for the next round, Shino had decided to use that day to simply take a day off from ALO. She had spent a good chunk of that morning with Nakuru and told her a little bit about her online life and alter ego as Sinon the Phantom Arrow. That day off had gone by rather quickly though, and in the afternoon that followed, Shino logged back into ALO as Sinon to watch the remaining battles of the tournament. It was only less than a minute after Sinon had logged in when she found that she had gotten a PM from someone that she didn't know.

The message was from a player called Nikita, and it had asked Sinon to meet in the capital city of spriggan territory in about an hour. Deciding that the message wasn't some sort of trap by another player who wanted revenge, Sinon decided to go meet with the mysterious sender. The fairy archer traveled to the city without her mask and enchanted coat equipped, as she didn't think she was going to need them. Sinon reached the designated meeting place only five minutes before her mysterious contact was set to arrive and waited.

"Sinon, right?" a familiar voice spoke, causing the archer to look.

Standing a few feet away was a young woman with long straight black hair that grew down to her lower back, and a pair of iron-grey eyes. She had on a long black coat over a black shirt that had a piece of dark-grey armor covering her rather impressive bust, along with a short black skirt. The rest of the woman's outfit consisted of a pair of black knee-high boots and a pair of black fingerless gloves. Sinon deduced that the woman was a spriggan, but beyond that she could tell nothing more.

"You're Nikita, right?" Sinon deduced. "So why'd you call me out here?"

Nikita came close enough to Sinon to whisper in her ear. "Shino, it's me. Nakuru."

"Na… Nakuru?" a stunned Sinon exclaimed, trying hard not to speak too loudly. "What the heck are you doing here? I mean… you told me that you didn't trust VRMMOs."

"Yeah, well… when you told me about this other life you lead online, I got curious." Nikita explained. "So I went out and got one of those damn amusphere things and a copy of this game – not cheap, by the way – and afterward my brother showed me how to log in and everything. He plays this game a little bit too from time to time. Frankly I thought he was a little nuts to keep playing these VRMMOs after what happened to him, but he has kind of a passion for these virtual worlds."

"You didn't have to do any of this you know." Sinon told the spriggan woman as she put her arms around her. "But… I'm happy that you decided to give this world a try."

"Hey. I figured that this way we could become a little closer." Nikita replied. "Plus a part of me wants to meet that tart who tried to put the moves on you a couple days ago so I can beat the crap out of her."

"Sinon!" a familiar voice interrupted. Both Sinon and Nikita looked to see Silica standing a few feet away with Pina perched on her head. "I think you and I need to talk about a few things."

"This a friend of yours?" Nikita asked as she let go of the archer.

Before Sinon could answer, Pina suddenly flew from her perch atop Silica's head and hovered near Nikita.

"Aw! How cute!" Nikita declared as she reached out and petted the little blue dragon's head. "I didn't know players in this game could have pets like this."

Silica blinked in surprise. "Um, Sinon… who's this other friend of yours?"

"This is the person who you thought was Nytokris." Sinon answered. "I told you that you didn't know what you were talking about."

"That remains to be seen, Arrow." Another voice interrupted, causing Sinon and the others to look. The group saw Lurga approaching from the same direction that Silica had come from.

"Just who the heck are you, jumbo?" Nikta asked the giantess.

"There's no doubt about it. That voice is exactly the same as Nytokris's." Lurga identified. "I don't know what game you're trying to play with this different avatar of yours, but I'm not falling for it!"

"Well, well. Here I am on the way to the tournament, and what should I find? It's a gathering of losers." A familiar voice interrupted. The group looked and saw Nytokris standing nearby. "Of course I am quite happy to see you again, dear Sinon. I was just hoping that it would be alone."

"What… what the hell?" a stunned Lurga exclaimed.

Nikita stepped forward to get between Sinon and Nytokris. "So you're the slut who tried to put the moves on my girl, huh? I'm only going to tell you this once. Stay the hell away from her."

Nytokris chuckled. "And what if I refuse?"

"If you don't back, I'm gonna beat you to a pulp." Nikita warned. "I'm still pretty new to all this, but I think I can kick your ass."

"It'd be amusing to see you try." Nytokris responded. "But there's only an hour left before the tournament is set to resume, and I have a little errand to run before then. Another time, perhaps."

With that, Nytokris's wings appeared and the imp woman took off into the air. Silica and Lurga were left totally stunned by what they had just witness.

"You guys really thought that bitch was me?" Nikita asked.

"Well, your voices do sound alike." Sinon pointed out. "I'm really sorry about mistaking Nytokris for you though."

"Hey. Don't worry about it." Nikita assured the archer as she went back over to her. "I guess it's hard to tell who's who in games like these. I mean look at how different I am from how I normally look. I have to say though, I really am liking this avatar."

"Um… how do you think I look?" Sinon asked with a slight blush.

"You? Why you're just adorable!" Nikita told her as she patted her head. "I really love how your hair looks in this game."

"I… I don't get it." Lurga spoke. "There voices were exactly the same. I was so sure that the Arrow's friend was Nytokris."

"I guess we were wrong?" Silica asked. "Wait a sec. Did this new woman call Sinon 'her girl' a bit ago when she was picking a fight to Nytokris?"

"I don't know. I didn't really catch a lot of what they were saying out of pure shock." Lurga answered.

"Well, now that we've gotten this whole mistaken identity out of the way, what now?" Nikita asked.

"Well, I originally logged in to watch the rest of the Clash of Queens tournament." Sinon answered. "There's a tavern around here where we can go to watch."

"Great! I'm not exactly used to the whole flying thing yet." Nikita replied. "I've been practicing, but I ended up running into three buildings on the way here."

"Um, we were actually heading to that tavern to meet up with Kirito and the others." Silica revealed. "They should be there in a few minutes."

With that, Sinon and the others headed for the largest tavern in the city. When they arrived, the place was already packed with other players also planning to watch the rest of the tournament. As they reached the large table and booth that they were going to watch from, Nikita suddenly pulled on Sinon's tail, causing the catgirl archer to yelp in surprised.

"N-Nikita!" a blushing Sinon exclaimed as she turned and held her rear. "What the heck was that for?"

"Sorry. Sorry." Nikita responded. "I was just curious if you could actually feel things with that tail or if it was just like decoration or something."

"It feels real enough." Sinon told her. "Now let's sit down."

With that, Sinon got in behind the table in a spot on Silica's left. Nikita immediately took the spot next to Sinon and pulled her close. The spriggan woman then began to gently massage the base of one of Sinon's cat ears with her fingers, causing the archer to let out a soft moan of pleasure.

"Guess you can feel that too, huh?" Nikita deduced.

"Uh-huh." Sinon confirmed as she began to relax. "That feels great. Don't stop."

"I don't get it." Lurga spoke, not at all paying attention to what was happening at the table. "I was sure I knew who Nytokris was from her voice. There's just something fishy about that woman."

"Yeah…" Silica agreed as she glanced over at Sinon and Nikita. "That's not the only thing going on here that seems fishy."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I really hope everyone reading enjoyed this latest chapter. Before I sign off for now, I want to announce that the next chapter won't be up until sometime next week due to the approaching Thanksgiving holiday. I'm also planning to use an afternoon next week to get some early Christmas shopping done, so I can't say for sure just what day next week the next chapter will be up.

Until next time, please review and let me know what you think.


	16. Lisbeth vs Asuna

**Author's Note:** I got this chapter finished a little later than I had planned, but I still got it done before the week was over. I hope this chapter will have been worth the wait for everyone.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Sword Art Online, nor do I own the works of H.P. Lovecraft.

* * *

Chapter 16: Lisbeth vs. Asuna

Kirito waited outside the crystal stadium with Yui as the remaining players in the Clash of Queens tournament went inside. The next round of the tournament was still about an hour and a half away, but most of the remaining competitors had already arrived. Of course Kirito was planning to go watch the remaining matches of the tournament with Klein and the others, but he and Yui wanted to personally wish Asuna luck before the tournament resumed. Kirito had also hoped to wish Leafa luck as well, but the blonde had yet to show up, as had Lisbeth. The dark-haired swordsman wondered if perhaps Lisbeth and Leafa had already gone inside the stadium.

"Why hello, Kirito." A familiar voice spoke. Kirito turned around and saw Nytokris standing behind him. "Fancy meeting you here. Last time I checked though, you didn't exactly have the right qualifications for this tournament."

"I'm actually waiting to meet with someone." Kirito told her.

"Asuna, right?" Nytokris deduced as she walked up to him. "You know… you could do much better than that little wench."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kirito asked.

"I mean…" Nytokris continued as she put her arms around Kirito, "If you and I joined together, we could make this entire world bow before us. You and I could be the ultimate power couple. Plus I could give you thrills that your bashful little wench of an undine couldn't even imagine."

"Back off!" Yui cut in as she got between Kirito's face and Nytokris's, causing the silver-haired imp to let go and step back. "Only mommy and auntie Leafa are allowed to be this close to daddy!"

"Stay out of this, little girl. Or else I'll clip your wings." Nytokris warned.

"I've got a better idea." Kirito told Nytokris as he reached back and drew one of his swords. "Why don't you just get lost? I don't know what the hell your game is, but there's no way in hell I'd ever be interested in someone like you."

Nytokris merely smirked. "Ah well. I guess I'll just have to go back to my original plan. It's a shame though. You and I could've really changed this world."

With that, Nytokris walked towards the crystal stadium. Once the silver-haired imp was far enough away, Kirito sheathed his sword.

"Kirito?" a familiar voice spoke from behind. He turned around to see that it was Asuna.

"Finally! Yui and I were starting to wonder if you would show up." Kirito responded.

"What the heck was going on with you and Nytokris?" Asuna asked.

"Well…" Kirito began as he rubbed the back of his head. "She pretty much hit on me. I told her to get lost though. I even got my sword out because she threatened Yui."

"That bitch!" Asuna cursed. "I am so going to make her pay for that."

"I know you will." Kirito told her. "Anyway, Yui and I just wanted to wish you luck before the next round."

"Thanks. I have a feeling that I'm going to need all the luck I can get." Asuna replied.

"You're really worried about fighting Liz, aren't you?" Kirito realized.

"Not so much about beating her as about this fight destroying our friendship." Asuna replied. "You know how Liz has been since the whole Donis thing. In fact she's been worse since fighting Selene at the start of the tournament."

"Well don't worry. I'm sure you and Liz will be okay." Kirito told her.

Asuna smiled and gave Kirito a peck on the cheek. "I'll see you later after I win."

With that, Asuna quickly headed off to the stadium. Satisfied that Asuna seemed ready for the next round, Kirito flew off into the sky with Yui.

* * *

Kirito arrived at the tavern and quickly found the booth where Klein, Siune, Agil and Silica were already waiting with Lurga. The dark-haired swordsman also saw Sinon cuddled up next to Nikita, though for some reason Kirito's brain hadn't quite registered the spriggan woman's presence. Instead, Kirito's mind instantly went to his conversation from the day before about Nytokris's possible real world identity. After the way that Nytokris had tried unsuccessfully to get into his pants earlier, Kirito decided that it was probably his time to say something about it to Sinon.

"Hey man. You meet up with Asuna okay?" Klein asked upon noticing Kirito's arrival.

"Yeah. She's at the stadium right now." Kirito answered as he took the remaining seat in the booth next to Klein. "Hey Sinon? I know you probably don't want to hear anything about this, but I think you and I need to have your friend, Nakuru."

"Really. So you heard about me too, huh?" Nikita spoke. "Well, I guess it's nice to know that all of Sinon's online friends know about me, even though they all think I'm some heartless slut."

Kirito's jaw dropped open in shock. "Oh… so… you're Nakuru then. It's nice to meet someone who's such a close friend of Sinon's."

"Yeah… really close." Silica remarked as she gave the couple another suspicious look.

"Don't feel bad, Kirito." Agil told him. "Practically everyone at this table put their foot in their mouth when they brought up Nikita over there."

"Uh, look Nikita. I'm sorry about what I just said." Kirito told her.

"Don't worry about it." Nikita told him. "It's nice to know that Sinon has such good friends in this game. It is weird though how that bitch and I seem to have the same voice."

"Actually… I don't think they are the same." Yui suddenly spoke. "Ms. Nikita's voice and Nytokris's voice do sound alike, but Nytokris's speech patterns are more… artificial."

"What? You mean like a recording?" Kirito asked.

"Kind of." Yui answered. "Basically, Nytokris is somehow imitating Ms. Nikita's voice. Just how and for what reason, I can't say."

"Hey Sinon. What's with the little doll-sized girl on your friend's shoulder." Nikita quietly asked.

"You mean Yui? She's kind of a long story." Sinon answered. "I can tell you though that Kirito got her in SAO."

"Oh! So a bunch of you people are the SAO survivors that Sinon told me about." Nikita realized. "Maybe at least one of you ran into my little brother."

"Your brother played SAO?" a surprised Silica asked.

"Yeah, and he was one of the people who made it out alive." Nikita answered. "Maybe one of you guys knows him."

"Probably. SAO was a big game." Agil pointed out.

"We'd probably remember him by his character name." Klein added. "You happen to know it?"

"Yeah, he told me what it was before I logged in." Nikita recalled. "What was it again? Oh yeah, Dash. He called himself Dash the Valiant. I don't know just how he came up with that name exactly, but he said it just rolls off the tongue. I think it sounds stupid, to be honest"

The mention of what Nikita's brother had called himself in SAO caused Kirito, Klein, Agil and Silica to have very animated facial expressions. An awkward silence hung over the table for several moments.

"Your brother is that dumbass?" Klein almost shouted.

"It almost would've been better if you were Nytokris!" Silica declared.

Nikita let out a heavy sigh. "Okay, what did my idiot little brother do to you all?"

Kirito sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Dash was one of the more… mediocre players of SAO. His skills were kind of above average, but he never had what it took to make it onto the front lines."

"He was also a total moron." Klein added. "One time my guild and I went to take on this one field boss on Floor 33 for part of this quest, and we asked Kirito and Dash to help out. Just when we were trying come up with a plan to take the thing down, that idiot just charged in before we were ready. Nobody got killed, but it was one of the most bone-headed things a person in that death game could do."

"That moron swindled me out of a huge wad of cash." Agil revealed. "He sold me what he claimed was a rare artifact, but it turned out to be some piece of junk he made look fancy."

"He tried using me and Pina as bait to lure out this one monster just so he could get a rare item." Silica added. "The guy's a total jerk."

"Yeah, that sounds like my brother alright." Nikita declared. "I'm going to kill him when I log out of here."

"Little advice? If you meet our friend, Lisbeth later, don't mention who your brother is to her." Kirito told Nikita. "Dash wasn't exactly her favorite customer in SAO."

"Speaking of Liz, isn't Asuna fighting her today in the tournament?" Sinon realized.

"Yep. And it's probably going to be a pretty rough battle." Kirito answered.

* * *

Asuna had been waiting by herself in the crystal stadium for the next round of the tournament to start. Leafa had yet to show up, and while Lisbeth was there, Asuna and the Pinkette had pretty much stayed away from one another. Asuna could tell that Lisbeth didn't want anything to do with her.

"Asuna." A familiar voice spoke. Asuna turned to see Leafa standing next to her.

"Oh! Hi Leafa." Asuna responded. "I was starting to think you weren't going to show up."

"I got a little bit hung up with something." Leafa explained. "So, you ready for the next round?"

"As I'll ever be." Asuna answered. "It's not like I'll really be able to enjoy myself in this next battle… considering who I'm up against."

"Oh… yeah." Leafa responded. "Well, let's just our best out there, okay?"

"Yeah." Asuna replied.

"Good to see you both trying so hard." A familiar voice interrupted. Asuna and Leafa looked to see Nytokris walking up to them. "Too bad your best isn't going to be enough, because no matter what happens, I'm going to be the one standing at the top."

"That's where you're wrong." Asuna told her. "I'm going to take you down at the end of this tournament."

"You'll have to get through the next few rounds first." Nytokris pointed out. "Considering who you might be up against, that might be an impossible task for you. Even my new friend, Liz might be too much for you, especially after the help I gave her."

"What… what do you mean?" Asuna asked.

"During the day off from the tournament, I helped Liz gather some material to forge a powerful new weapon for herself." Nytokris revealed. "I showed her a new material that she never would've thought of using before. With the way Liz is now, I'm sure she'll be just too much for you to handle. Ta-ta for now, ladies."

With that, Nytokris walked off, chuckling to herself as she left. Soon after, a dazzling blue light filled the room and Lydia materialized in the chamber with a swarm of multicolored butterflies surrounding her. As the light faded and the butterflies vanished, all eyes fell on the tournament's MC.

"Hello one and all!" Lydia spoke. "Welcome to our final day of the Clash of Queens tournament! I hope that those of you still left in the tournament used yesterday's day off to prepare for today, because the game just gets harder from here. To kick things off, we'll be holding the quarterfinal battles for the remaining players in Bracket A! In one of our fights, we have Asuna the Berserk Healer against Lisbeth the Blacksmith! Meanwhile in our other fight we have a classic sylph verses salamander throw down between Leafa and Corona of the Blue Flame! In the interest of time, both fights will take place at the same time. As always, those of you watching the tournament can pick the fights that you want to stream. Now then, if our four fighters will step onto the teleport pads, the next round of this tournament can begin."

With that, Asuna, Lisbeth, Leafa and the salamander woman known as Corona each stepped onto one of the waiting teleport pads. In moments, a blue light shot up from the pad around Asuna's feet, and the blunette was beamed away to another part of ALO.

* * *

Asuna's beam had set her down in the ruined seaside village of Innsmouth. The noxious aroma of salt air mixed with dead fish instantly assaulted the blunette's nostrils. Asuna was at least thankful that there were no Deep Ones around, but she didn't like the idea of having to fight in such a loathsome area of the game. Another beam of blue light hit the ground a few feet from where Asuna was standing, fading a few moments later to reveal Lisbeth. Asuna immediately noticed that Lisbeth was holding a new weapon made of an odd black metal. It appeared to be a mace of some kind, but the top end appeared to be a smooth perfectly round sphere that looked as though it could only do minimal damage.

"Hey there, Asuna." Lisbeth spoke. "This fight's been a long time coming."

"Tell me something, Liz… did you really get help from Nytokris to make a new weapon?" Asuna asked.

"Sure did." Lisbeth confirmed. "You see this mace? It was forged using an alloy made from that black slime flowing in that underground river in N'kai. I had no idea it could be collected and made into a metal until Nytokris told me. I'm calling this baby Tsathoggua's Hammer. What do ya think? Good name?"

"How… how could you accept help from that horrible woman?" Asuna asked. "Don't you know how horrible she is?"

"She's more of a friend to me than you, you rich bitch!" Lisbeth shot back. "Now let's throw down!"

Asuna prepared to draw her sword. "I guess we're both done with talking then."

A holographic timer appeared in the air and beeped after ticking to zero, signaling the start of the battle. Asuna drew her sword and charged towards Lisbeth at full speed. Just when the blunette had come in range though, Lisbeth sidestepped the attack and swung her mace at Asuna. Right before striking Asuna in the side, the head of the mace grew larger and became covered in spikes. The force of the impact from the weapon flung Asuna into the wall of one of the nearby ruined buildings, causing that part of the wall to shatter. Asuna got back to her feet, but she had lost more than a quarter of her HP. Meanwhile, the head of Lisbeth's mace had returned to its original shape.

"Not bad, huh?" Lisbeth spoke as she walked towards Asuna. "The head of the weapon changes shape in response to whatever object or opponent its about to hit. I don't totally understand how the thing works yet, but it seems like it adjusts to the opponent's defense stats in order to do the maximum amount of damage."

Asuna ignored Lisbeth's comments and charged at Lisbeth once more. Lisbeth raised her black mace above her head and swung it down as Asuna came in range. Asuna bent back at the last moment to try and avoid the blow, but the head of the mace not only changed shape again, it also stretched forward to strike Asuna in the stomach. Asuna was knocked to the ground, and her HP had fallen to almost half of what it originally was.

"Well what do you know? I didn't know this thing could adjust its range too." Lisbeth remarked as her weapon returned to its original shape. "You better be ready, rich girl. Because I'm about to show you just how tough I really am!"

* * *

Please review and let me know what you think.


	17. Unresolved Feelings

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Sword Art Online, nor do I own the works of H.P. Lovecraft.

* * *

Chapter 17: Unresolved Feelings

"It's going to take more than a new mace to take me down, Liz." Asuna declared.

"Oh yeah? Then put up or shut up!" Lisbeth shot back.

With that, Asuna charged at Lisbeth with her sword raised. When Asuna came in range, Lisbeth swung her black mace to slam it into Asuna's side, but at the last second Asuna's wings appeared and the blunette took off straight up into the sky. The head of the black mace tried to stretch forward to strike Asuna, but ended up missing its target. Lisbeth quickly looked up to catch where Asuna had gone, but the blunette was nowhere in the sky to be seen. As the pinkette continued to look around, Asuna landed on the ground a few feet behind Lisbeth and charged in.

Asuna struck several times in the back with her rapier, taking the pink-haired blacksmith's HP down to just a little less than half its original amount. Lisbeth recovered and turned around to swing her mace into Asuna, but at the last moment Asuna's wings reappeared and the blunette flew up and back several feet away. The head of Lisbeth's black mace stretched to try and hit Asuna, but the neck of the weapon was only able to extend so far.

"Looks like my hunch was right." Asuna spoke. "That mace of yours only has a limited range as to how far it can stretch. Now that I know that, beating you shouldn't be that hard."

"Damn you!" Lisbeth shouted as her mechanical wings appeared on her back.

The pinkette flew over the ground across the battlefield at Asuna and attempted to bludgeon the blunette with her mace. Asuna took back off straight up into the air and managed to dodge another strike, but Lisbeth followed her closely into the skies above Innsmouth. Once high into the air, Lisbeth swung the shape shifting mace down towards Asuna's skull, but the blue-haired fencer easily moved to the side of the attack and struck Lisbeth several more times, taking the pinkette's HP close to the red zone. Lisbeth quickly recovered from the attack and suddenly kneed Asuna in the stomach, catching the fencer off guard. Before Asuna could recover, Lisbeth slammed her back mace into the side of Asuna's head.

The impact of Lisbeth's weapon knocked Asuna out of the air and caused her to crash into the roof of one of the dilapidated houses making up the decaying city of Innsmouth. The material of the roof was so weak that Asuna had fallen through it and crashed into the abandoned house's attic. Asuna managed to get back to her feet, but the critical hit from Lisbeth's mace had caused her HP to fall into the red zone.

"Don't think you're so hot just because you fought on the frontlines in SAO!" Lisbeth told her. "I may have been just a supporting player back then, but I'm more than strong enough to take you down, little Ms. Perfect!"

Asuna took back off into the sky and took a swing at Lisbeth with her sword. Lisbeth easily managed to dodge the attack and swung her mace towards the back of Asuna's head. The blunette quickly flew back far enough to avoid getting clobbered again and circled around to attack Lisbeth from behind. As Asuna flew in the deliver another deadly blow though, Lisbeth flew around and blocked the attack with her mace. Asuna was forced to quickly fall back again in order to avoid taking another hit. The fencer knew that if she were hit again even once, her HP would likely go to zero. Meanwhile, Lisbeth's HP was still high enough above Asuna's that if the timer for the battle were to run out, Lisbeth would automatically win. Before Asuna could figure out a solid plan, Lisbeth flew in again and attempted to take off Asuna's head with her mace, only for the blue-haired fencer to fly downward to avoid the attack.

"This match is only going to end one way, Asuna!" Lisbeth declared. "With me PK'ing you!"

* * *

Leafa was teleported back to the crystal stadium after her match. Her battle with Corona the Blue Flame had been a very difficult one, but somehow Leafa had been able to win and advance to the next round. As Leafa arrived in the stadium hall, she saw a large holographic screen showing Asuna's battle with Lisbeth. Leafa could see that the battle between the two of them had become very intense. In fact, it seemed to Leafa as though Asuna and Leafa were actually trying to kill each other.

"They're really going all out, huh?" a familiar voice spoke. Leafa looked and saw Nytokris standing next to her. "It really is amusing to watch those two trying to tear each other apart."

"You're an evil woman, you know that?" Leafa told her.

"Evil?" Nytokris chuckled. "Evil and good are just labels people came up with to describe what they believe to be wrong or right. What a person believes to be good or evil is all just a matter of perception. Think of me what you will, dear Leafa. It really makes no difference to me. Though I had hoped you're opinion of me would be a little higher."

"Is there something you actually want, or did you just come over here to talk crap?" Leafa asked.

"I merely wanted to wish you luck in the next round." Nytokris answered. "One way or another, you're going to be up against some tough competition. Plus I'm sure you have reasons for wanting both Asuna and Lisbeth taken out… especially Asuna."

"What're you talking about?" Leafa asked.

"I happen to know that Asuna took something very special to you long ago." Nytokris told her. "This will be your chance to make her pay for it."

With that, Nytokris said her farewells and walked off. As Leafa turned her attention back to the fight, she couldn't help but wonder about how Nytokris could've known about her old feelings for Kirito. Leafa somehow pushed the question out of her mind and tried to focus on the battle. The blonde hoped that no matter whether it was Asuna or Lisbeth who won, their battle wouldn't get too out of hand.

* * *

The timer for Asuna and Lisbeth's battle continued to tick away as the two fighters continued to clash in the air. Neither of them had been able to land a blow on the other since Lisbeth's declaration to end the battle by PK. Eventually Lisbeth and Asuna took their battle back down to the ground. The two of them stood several feet apart as a rain suddenly started to come down over the battlefield. Asuna prepared to charge at Lisbeth head on to try and deliver the killing blow when a realization suddenly hit her. Looking across the battlefield, it occurred to Asuna that she wasn't fighting some NPC monster or a member of the murder guild known as Laughing Coffin in SAO. She was fighting a friend in what was supposed to be a friendly competition, and yet their fight had become anything but friendly. Asuna finally realized just how wrong the whole situation was.

"Liz, wait!" Asuna called as she lowered her sword. "What the hell are we doing? We shouldn't be fighting each other like this!"

"If you don't like it, then quit!" Lisbeth told her. "It's not like you have a chance at winning at this point anyway!"

"I don't get it! Why are you coming at me so hard like this?" Asuna asked. "Why are you trying to take me down like I'm your worst enemy?"

"Why? Because Kirito picked you over me!" Lisbeth answered. "Because that bastard, Donis seemed to prefer Leafa, Sinon and even that bitch, Selene over me!"

"Is that what this is all about? Are you trying to prove that you're better than me?" Asuna realized.

"I'm tired of everyone thinking that I'm nothing special!" Lisbeth decalred. "After this fight, I'm going to prove that I'm just as good as you, Sinon and all the others! And I'm going to prove that right now!"

With that, Lisbeth charged towards Asuna at full speed with her mace raised high. Asuna remained where she was and prepared for the attack. Just as Lisbeth came in range, Asuna took off with her wings and hovered around to Lisbeth's left side with incredible as the pinkette swung down the head of her weapon. Asuna then stabbed Lisbeth in the side twice with her rapier, reducing the blacksmith's HP to a red sliver. At that moment, the timer beeped to signal the end of the match and vanished. Taking the timer's place was a holographic message declaring Asuna the winner of the battle. With the battle at an end, Lisbeth fell to her knees and two beams of blue light shot up from the ground around Asuna and Lisbeth to teleport them back to the stadium.

* * *

Asuna rematerialized back in the crystal stadium on the very same teleport pad that she had left on. When the blunette stepped off, she saw Lisbeth still on her knees facing the wall behind her pad. Asuna went over to see if Lisbeth was okay and noticed a few fresh teardrops on the teleport pad beneath the pinkette.

"…I'm totally worthless." Lisbeth spoke.

"Liz, that just isn't true." Asuna told her.

"It is. Compared to you, I'm nothing." Lisbeth insisted. "You're not just a good VRMMO player… you've got everything. It's no wonder Kirito fell for you. You've probably got dozens of other guys who want to be with you too. Me… I'll always be average."

"C'mon, Liz." Asuna spoke as she put a hand on the blacksmith's shoulder. "You're more than just average. You're an incredible person, someone I'm proud to have as a friend."

"Yeah?" Lisbeth spoke as she looked back up at Asuna. "Then how come every great guy I've met recently seems to just toss me aside for someone else?"

"This mood you've been hasn't been about Donis, has it?" Asuna realized.

"…It's been partly about him." Lisbeth answered. "When Kirito picked you over me… yeah, I was crushed but I got over it. Or at least I thought I did. There was once a time where I thought I could win him away from you. Anyway, then I met Donis and thought that I had found the perfect guy of my own. Then we all found out what kind of scum Donis really was. After we beat him, at first it seemed like I thought I could get over him. But then… I thought about how Leafa seemed to be Donis's favorite and how Sinon was at least his favorite soldier. All I seemed to be good for was making equipment to arm his little girl of fangirls. I guess that's when I started comparing myself to you and the others and thought maybe… maybe all of you really are all better than me. Because of that, I started to envy you and the others, I guess."

Asuna kneeled down to get closer. "Liz… you shouldn't worry about being better or worse than me or any of the others. It doesn't matter why Donis used you or anyone else in that guild of his because he didn't love or even really care about any of you. And as for Kirito and me… he didn't fall for me because I was an elite warrior in SAO or because I was rich IRL or because of anything else like that. The love Kirito and I have for one another goes much deeper than that, because we found a connection with each other that we can't have with anyone else. I'm sure you'll find that kind of connection with someone too."

"…Thanks." Lisbeth replied with a tearful smile.

"Now c'mon. Let's get you off this thing." Asuna told her.

With that, Asuna helped Lisbeth to her feet and the two of them stepped off the pad. As the pair went over to a bench in the corner of the large chamber to relax, Leafa went over to meet with them.

"Hey there, you two." Leafa spoke. "That was a pretty intense fight. Are you both okay?"

"We're fine." Asuna assured her. "How'd things go for you?"

"I made it to the next round." Leafa answered. "So… I guess that means you and I will be facing each other in the semifinals."

"Oh… yeah. I guess it does." Asuna realized.

"That will be one show that I look forward to seeing." A familiar voice interrupted. The three looked to see Nytokris standing a few feet away. "I was actually hoping that it would be the two of you in the end."

"Looking forward to facing one of us, huh?" Leafa assumed.

"Oh, I don't care which one of you I end up facing in the final round." Nytokris told them. "I'm just eager to see you both go after each other."

Suddenly a beam of blue light shot up on the stage inside the large chamber and quickly vanished to reveal Lydia. "Congratulations to Asuna and Leafa for making it to the semifinal round! Now, onto the two quarterfinal matches for our Bracket B players! In one of our matches, we have the imp terror Nytokris facing the famous Alicia Rue, leader of the cait sithes! Meanwhile in our other battle, we have Venus of the undines facing Esmeralda of the leprechauns! Both matches will begin in five minutes, so you four better get ready!"

"Well, it looks like I have another opponent to slay." Nytokris observed. "We'll continue this another time."

"Um… I think I'm going to hang back somewhere else, you guys." Leafa decided as Nytokris left. "I kind of want to use this time to prepare for the next round, you know?"

"We totally understand." Asuna replied.

With that, Leafa walked off towards the other side of the room. As the blonde fairy left, Asuna let out a heavy sigh.

"You okay?" Lisbeth asked.

"I think so." Asuna answered. "I just get the feeling that my battle with Leafa is going to be a lot worse than the one that you and I had."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I apologize if this chapter was a bit short and not my best work. To be honest, I had kind of a hard time writing it. Hopefully the following chapters will be much better.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	18. The Phantom Black Dragon

**Author's Note:** I deeply apologize for not updating this story in weeks. The main reason for this story suddenly going dead is because last month my grandfather went into the hospital and died over a week later. Needless to say, I was really thrown off my game where this story was concerned. It's not that I haven't been writing though. I recently started a one-shot collection for my Pokemon AU called _The Legends of Amber Drei_ , if anyone reading is interested. Anyway, I'm now back to work on this story, so on with the next chapter!

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Sword Art Online.

* * *

Chapter 18: The Phantom Black Dragon

The second batch of quarterfinal matches had begun, and Alicia Rue had been beamed down in the middle of a vast rocky canyon of grey stone. The blonde cait sithe leader smirked upon seeing her surroundings, for she recognized the place as canyon in her own territory known as Dragon's Belly Ravine. This meant that Alicia had the home field advantage, as well as the perfect place to unleash her secret weapon. Alicia had been hiding an ace up her sleeve for several months, and a battle against a player of Nytokris's level seemed like the perfect time to use it. In fact it seemed to Alicia like it was her only shot at winning, for she knew that Nytokris had to be pretty powerful to take down players as powerful as Sinon.

Another beam of blue light hit the ground a few feet away from where Alicia was standing, fading moments later to reveal Nytokris. The silver-haired imp approached Alicia with a confident smirk on her face.

"I wouldn't be so confident, if I were you." Alicia told Nytokris. "I admit you're probably one of the strongest players I've seen in this game in ages, but your winning streak ends with me."

Nytokris snickered. "You know… it really is cute seeing a little kitten like you trying to roar like a lion. You may be the leader of the cait sithes, but you're out of your league here."

A holographic timer appeared in the air and the two of them took a fighting stance. When the timer hit zero and signaled the start of the fight though, Alicia suddenly turned on her heel and dashed off down the canyon floor away from her opponent. Nytokris merely raised an eyebrow before raising her hand forward and chanting a spell. A blast of purple energy shot from the palm of Nytokris's hand and zoomed after Alicia. As the attack came close to its target, the head of it changed into a skull with an open mouth. The blonde catigirl rolled to the ground just as the attack was about to strike, causing the strange blast to strike a large bolder that was in her path. The boulder then turned black and suddenly crumbled to ash.

"Being in something of an expert in dark magic, I'm sure you recognized the attack spell I tried to use against you." Nytokris spoke.

"The Death's Head Drainer spell." Alicia identified as she got back to her feet. "If I had been hit with that, I would've lost at least half my MP and have been hit with a random status condition like paralysis. It's a powerful spell, but I'm just fast enough to dodge it. The fact that you tried using it though just confirms what I already figured out about you. You like to toy with your opponents before you finally finish them."

"Well of course. These battles would be no fun if I didn't make my opponents suffer a bit." Nytokris replied. "Now let's get on with this."

Alicia dashed off to her left towards the canyon wall. Nytorkis fired off another skull-shaped blast of energy, but the blonde managed to duck out of its path by diving to the ground. Alicia quickly got back to her feet and continued to run. When she came near the base of the canyon wall, Alicia quickly chanted a spell and fired a ball of yellow light from the palm of her hand at the ground. Upon striking, the ball of light carved a strange symbol into the canyon floor.

Nytokris fired off another skull blast, only for Alicia to dodge it and dash off towards the opposite wall of the canyon. Scowling, Nytokris ran up a bit closer and threw a dagger towards Alicia's head. Alicia ducked out of the way of the thrown blade and continued running. When the blonde catgirl got close enough to the base of the other canyon wall, she chanted the same spell from before and fired another ball of light at the ground. The projectile left another strange symbol in the canyon floor.

"You're starting to annoy me a little, you know." Nytokris told her. "This is supposed to be a battle, but all you're doing is running around the field like a chicken with its head cut off!"

"Oh don't worry. We're going to have a battle alright." Alicia told her. "But for you, it's going to be a bloodbath."

* * *

Kirito and the others had been watching Alicia Rue's battle with Nytokris at the tavern since it had started. Alicia was the only one of the Bracket B players left that most of the gang really knew, and a few of them were even hoping that Alicia had what it took to beat Nytokris so that Asuna or Leafa wouldn't have to go up against her.

"I don't really get what Alicia's strategy is supposed to be." Kirito remarked. "She has to be doing more than just running around at random, it doesn't seem like she's really accomplishing anything."

"Neither one of them has taken any damage yet so far." Klein pointed out. "Do you think Alicia is just hoping for a draw? I mean if the timer ran out and they still both had full HP…"

"That wouldn't help." Agil told him. "In the event of a draw, they'd just hold a special match between them in a different venue before getting to the semifinal round."

"It looked like your friend, Alicia fired something at the ground a couple of times." Nikita recalled. "Could that have something to do with her strategy?"

"Wait a sec! She couldn't be trying to do what I think she is, could she?" Silica spoke.

"You think you know what she's up to, kid?" Lurga asked.

"Well… maybe." Silica answered. "In one of the last updates, special summoning spells were added to the game; spells that can only be used by high level cait sithes. Some of the more powerful spells use dark magic to work."

"Wait! You're saying that Alicia is trying to summon the monster I think you're talking about?" Sinon asked. "I thought that monster was just a rumor."

"What sort of monster are you guys talking about?" Kirito asked.

"A powerful dark dragon that some people say is as strong as the second floor boss of New Aincrad." Silica answered. "But it's supposed to be incredibly hard to summon. As far as I know, no cait sithe player has been able to summon it successfully. That's why most people think that it's just a rumor."

"It's pretty bold for Alicia to try summoning a dragon like that in a battle like this." Sinon remarked. "Then again, it could be her only shot against a ridiculously powerful opponent like Nytokris."

"Well if Alicia really is trying to summon this dragon you're talking about, she had better do it soon." Kirito told them. "I don't think she can keep dodging Nytokris's attacks for very much longer."

* * *

As the timer for the battle ticked away, Alicia had managed to place two more marks on the ground a certain points a few feet behind the first two. The whole time, the blonde catgirl had narrowly managed to dodge Nytokris's attacks. Such a feat had become easier since Nytokris had switched to using throwing knives. Unfortunately, there was still one last mark Alicia needed to place on the ground for her plan to work, and the spot where she needed to place it was right behind where Nytokris was standing. Alicia was going to have to get very close to her opponent in order to finish what she had started, which was no easy task.

With nothing to lose, Alicia dashed towards the silver-haired imp, ducking every now and then to avoid one of her knives. When she came near enough, Alicia curved around to the left and dashed towards Nytokris from behind. Nytokris saw her coming and drew her sword. Once Alicia got near enough, Nytokris swung her blade to take off her head. Alicia quickly crouched down before the blade could even cut into a lock of her head and shot another ball of light at the ground, placing the final mark where it needed to be. Once her task was done, Alicia quickly got back up and jumped back to avoid another swing from Nytokris's sword.

Alicia curved back around her opponent and went to a position that was in the very center of the five marks as Nytokris sheathed her sword.

"Now I've got you right where I want you!" Alicia declared. "This is as far as you go, Nytokris!"

Alicia then began chanting another very long spell. Suddenly all the marks that she had placed on the ground began to give off a brilliant purple light. Nytokris jumped backward just as a straight line of purple energy erupted up from where the mark behind her was and traveled to one of the marks behind Alicia. Once the energy had reached its destination and drew a line in the ground between the first and second marks, another line of energy traveled from the second mark to the third mark that was on Alicia's right. In moments, all five of the marks became connected and formed a giant pentagram. When the symbol became complete, a gigantic beam of purple light shot up from the ground around Alicia and radiated outward.

When the pillar of light finally faded, Alicia was standing atop the long neck of a gigantic bipedal dragon covered in black scales. It had four muscular arms and two pairs of gigantic membranous wings. The creature's head had a long pointed snout, and the top of its head along with the back of its neck was covered in thick silver armor. On the sides of its head were two large curled brown horns, and its eyes glowed with a red light.

"How do ya like that?" Alicia asked with a triumphant smirk. "This is Tarterros, the Black Dragon of the Underworld. It took me over two months to learn the proper technique to summon him, but he's well worth it. With the help of this beg fella, I'm about to move on to the next round."

* * *

All of the remaining competitors back at the crystal stadium who were watching the battle were totally stunned when Alicia summoned Tarterrors. Asuna wasn't stunned though, for she hadn't been paying that much attention to the fight. The whole time her mind had been on her impending battle with Leafa.

"So all the rumors are true." Lisbeth spoke. "That black dragon really does exist. Pretty wild that Alicia was able to summon it, huh?"

"Wha?" Asuna responded. She looked up at the screen and finally saw what her friend was talking about. "Oh… yeah. Pretty impressive."

"Where the heck have you been this whole time?" Lisbeth asked.

"I've just got a lot on my mind." Asuna explained. "Pretty soon Leafa and I will be facing each other in the next round. I'm worried that my fight with her will be like the one we just had. In fact it might even be worse. If that's true…"

"You're worried about how it might affect your relationship with Kirito." Lisbeth realized.

Asuna nodded. "Leafa is Kirito's family, and I know how she felt about him. Plus there's what happened with Donis. If Leafa can't move past all that, I'm not sure how Kirito and I can move forward… how all three of us can move forward."

"Don't worry about it." Lisbeth told Asuna as she put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm pretty sure Leafa's accepted your relationship with Kirito. I think she's even accepted what happened with Donis. You probably don't have anything to worry about."

"I hope you're right." Asuna responded. "Guess we'll all find out soon enough though."

"This battle ends now, Nytokris!" Alicia declared. "Tarterros, end this now!"

* * *

Just as black flames began to form inside the dragon's fanged mouth, the sound of an ear-splitting noise like a whistle cut through the air. Suddenly Tarterros thrashed his neck and flung Alicia off. The blonde catgirl used her wings to stay airborne and keep from crashing to the ground, but Taterros had moved to hover behind Nytokris. It was then that Alicia saw that Nytokris had some kind of flute to her lips. The head of the flute was shaped like the head of a dragon.

"Nice try, little kitten. But I'm afraid your strategy was painfully obvious." Nytokris told her. "I knew from the beginning you were trying to set up some kind of summoning ritual with the way you were running around the battlefield. Moves like that are only truly ever good in situations when you've got an entire squad covering you. Of course I wasn't expecting that you'd summon the fabled black dragon, Tarterros, but the plan I had to counter your strategy still worked. You do know what this is I'm holding, don't you?"

"That's a… dragon charmer's flute." Alicia identified. "It can cause dragons under the control of a cait sithe to turn against their masters for a few minutes."

"That's right." Nytokris confirmed. "And this particular flute is extremely rare, which means it can cause even high level dragons like Tarterros to betray their masters. You were right, little kitten. The battle is over, but I'm the one moving onto the next round. Tarterros! Burn her to cinders!"

Tarterros opened his jaws and spewed out a stream of black flames. Alicia tried to fly away to avoid the attack, but was quickly enveloped by the inferno. The blonde's HP dropped like a stone, and when her dragon's attack ended Alicia's body had been reduced to a ball of yellow flames.

"A pity." Nytokris remarked as Tarterros vanished from the battlefield. "You may have been strong enough to become the leader of the cait sithes, but you're hardly strong enough to fulfill my needs."

Soon after Nytokris's comment, the timer for the battle vanished and was replaced by a holographic message declaring Nytokris the winner. A beam of blue light then came down from the sky and teleported Nytokris back to the stadium.

* * *

Asuna got back to her feet when she saw Nytokris arrived back in the stadium. The silver-haired woman shot Asuna an arrogant sneer just as Lydia reappeared in the chamber with her signature swarm of blue butterflies.

"Congrats to all four of our quarterfinal round winners!" Lydia announced. "Now we come to the very exciting semifinal round of our tournament! For our first battle, we have Asuna the Berserk Healer facing the pride of the sylphs, Leafa! Will both competitors please step onto the teleport pads?"

Asuna and Leafa exchanged a look before heading over to the pads. Leafa got onto her pad first and was quickly teleported away. Asuna took a deep breath before stepping onto her pad. In moments, a blue light washed out everything around her as she was taken away to the venue for what would be her most difficult fight yet.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I'm sorry if this chapter wasn't my best work. I was admittedly having problems with writing it even before my grandfather passed away. Hopefully I'll do much better with the next one. On that note though, I think I should mention that updates to this story might be slowing down just a bit. For one thing, I'm probably going to try and do some more work on that one-shot collection I mentioned in the last Author's Note. I am going to do my best to get this story done by next month though, if not sooner.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	19. Sword Talk

**Author's Note:** I've recently gotten a new job and am still trying to figure out how to balance it with my writing. Because of that, updates to this story will probably continue to be a bit slow.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Sword Art Online

* * *

Chapter 19: Sword Talk

Asuna was beamed down into the middle of what appeared to be an ancient coliseum made of white stone. Scattered around the large battlefield were large and ancient-looking pieces of stone masonry, and at the far end of the arena opposite where Asuna was standing was a large statue of a bearded man holding a trident. Above the coliseum was a massive glass dome that showed an endless blue expanse of water with fish swimming about as though they were birds flying through the sky. Asuna recognized the location as part of an ancient underwater city in undine territory. Moments after Asuna's arrival, another beam of light came down through the glass of the dome, fading moments later to reveal Leafa.

"So… this is where we'll be having our battle, huh?" Leafa observed as she looked around. "Not a bad spot for it."

"Nope." Asuna replied. "Um, before we get started, how 'bout we agree to keep this fight on the ground?"

"Works for me." Leafa agreed. "Just remember though, I'm not going to be holding back anything against you."

"Neither will I." Asuna told her.

Suddenly the holographic timer for the fight appeared in the air about the arena floor and began to tick away to the start of the battle. Leafa and Asuna instantly took a fighting stance and prepared to draw their swords as the seconds slipped by. When the timer beeped, both women drew their swords and charged headlong towards one another. When she came in range, Asuna thrust her blade three times at Leafa's torso, only for the blonde to block each strike. Leafa countered by slashing Asuna across the side of her left upper arm, taking a off a small amount of HP. The blunette quickly recovered though and managed to strike Leafa twice in the stomach, taking off a good-sized chunk of HP. After taking that hit, Leafa quickly fell back and dashed behind one of the large pieces of stone masonry scattered over the battlefield before Asuna could stop her.

Rather than chase after her opponent, Asuna decided to remain where she was to see what Leafa would do next. It was several moments before several projectiles made of a yellow energy flew out from behind one of the large pieces of stone and heads straight for Asuna's position like a cluster of small missiles. Before the projectiles could reach their target, Asuna quickly chanted a spell that caused a dome of transparent blue light to appear around her. The energy missiles impacted the dome and created a massive cloud of smoke. Leafa emerged from her hiding place as the smoke cleared to find that Asuna's dome was totally intact.

"Was that… a barrier spell?" a surprised Leafa asked. "I don't think I've seen a spell like that in ALO before."

"After I beat Cthulhu, I received an item called the _Book of the Primal Deep_." Asuna explained as the dome of light around her vanished. "It's full of some pretty powerful spells that only an undine can use. That bubble barrier spell I just used was one of the few spells I've been able to learn so far."

"I see… so you could probably use that spell to block all of my attacks then." Leafa assumed.

"Actually, the bubble barrier spell only protects against magical attacks." Asuna explained. "It can't block anything like a sword."

"Then I guess there's only one way to resolve this then." Leafa realized.

With that, Leafa charged back across the field towards Asuna. When the blonde came in range, Leafa attempted to slash Asuna in the chest, only for the blunette to block the attack. A split second later though, Leafa managed to stab Asuna in the stomach and take off a good-sized chunk of HP. Asuna recovered from the attack thrust her own blade at Leafa's stomach, only for the blonde to block each of her attacks. Leafa then attempted to strike Asuna in the side, only for Asuna to bend back and avoid the blonde's swing. With Leafa caught off guard, Asuna quickly straightened back up and stabbed Leafa four times in the chest. After losing another large chunk of HP, Leafa quickly fell back to avoid any more potentially fatal attacks.

"Not bad." Leafa admitted as she caught her breath. "But this fight has only just gotten started."

"I know." Asuna replied. "What do you say we stop playing around?"

* * *

Kirito and the others had been watching Asuna's battle against Leafa with baited breath. The battle had been raging on for several minutes with Leafa and Asuna keeping an even amount of HP. It was hard to Kirito and some of his friends to see Asuna's battle with Leafa as a friendly one, considering the issues that the two of them seemed to have with one another.

"Man, this is just brutal!" Klein declared.

"Kirito, are you doing okay watching this fight?" Siune asked.

"Yeah… I'm just not sure who I should be rooting for." Kirito answered.

"This battle is proving to be just as nasty as the battle Asuna had with Liz." Silica remarked.

"Not quite." Sinon interjected. "I mean Asuna and Leafa are clearly going all out in this battle, but they aren't ticked off at each other. They've both been pretty calm and focused from the start."

"Sinon's right." Agil agreed. "There hasn't been a single bit of trash talking from either of 'em. This battle has been totally civil, or at least that's the way it looks."

"I hope you guys are right." Kirito told them. "I'd just hate for Asuna and Sugu's friendship to be ruined over this fight."

* * *

Asuna and Leafa continued to clash swords as the timer for the fight slowly ticked away to zero. With only a few short minutes left on the clock, Leafa and Asuna each had just a little less than half their original HP left. As the fight raged, managed to slash Asuna across her chest, leaving the blunette with almost a quarter of her HP gauge left. Asuna quickly recovered from the attack and thrust her rapier three times into the stomach of her blonde opponent. The attack had reduced Leafa's HP to just about a quarter of what it was, forcing the blonde to fall back. Asuna and Leafa both took that moment to try and catch their breath.

"Wow… you really are good, Asuna." Leafa praised. "In fact you might be even stronger than my brother. Of course I guess you'd have to be that strong to survive a world like SAO."

"Thanks." Asuna replied. "You know… I've actually been having a pretty good time in this fight. It's pretty surprising, since I was pretty sure you'd be mad at me."

"Why the heck would I be mad at you?" Leafa asked.

"Because I stole Kirito from you." Asuna answered. "And then I helped take Donis away from you. I wouldn't blame you a bit for being mad at me because of all that."

"Asuna… a while ago you would've been totally right." Leafa admitted. "There was a time when I was mad at you from taking my brother from me, especially during that time you were trapped in ALO. I once went with him when he visited you in the hospital during that time, and… when I saw how much he cared about you I got incredibly jealous. I got over it though, and I've come to terms with what happened with Donis too."

"So… you're really not mad at me then?" Asuna asked.

"Of course not." Leafa assured her. "In fact… I've kinda come to think of you as a sister."

"Thanks, that means a lot." Asuna told her.

"Um, we should probably get back to our battle now." Leafa suggested.

"Oh. Right." Asuna agreed. "Let's both give it everything we've got!"

With that, Asuna and Leafa charged towards one another to continue their fight. The clashing of their blades rang throughout the arena, with neither one of them managing to land a blow on the other. Over time Asuna managed to force Leafa back towards the statue at the end of the ring but was unable to land a single strike. After being backed into a corner, Leafa managed to roll out of the way just as Asuna was about to strike her in the chest and managed to get behind the blunette. It was then that Leafa began to back Asuna into the same corner that she had just been in.

There were soon only a few brief seconds on the clock, and with their HP nearly tied Asuna and Leafa knew that they needed to end the fight soon. At last, Leafa saw what she thought looked like an opening and swung her sword towards Asuna's chest. Asuna turned her body out of the blade's path though and managed to stab Leafa in the stomach. The timer for the battle reached zero and beeped to signal the end of the fight. With Leafa's HP just slightly lower than her opponent's, a message appeared in place of the timer to declare Asuna the winner.

"That was a great battle." Leafa declared as she and Asuna sheathed their swords.

"I'll say. You almost had me there at the end." Asuna told her.

Two beams of blue light came down through the glass dome of the arena and struck Asuna and Leafa where they stood. Asuna felt herself being lifted off the arena floor and back to the crystal stadium.

* * *

Kirito let out a heavy sigh as he saw Asuna's battle with Leafa finally come to an end. The black swordsman was so relieved that he laid his head on the table.

"That was one of the most brutal fights I've ever seen." Kirito declared.

"I hear ya, man." Klein told Kirito as he patted him on the shoulder. "Glad that Leafa didn't seem like she was bent out of shape about losing."

"Now we've got Nytokris's battle up next." Lurga interjected. "Do we know who she's up against?"

"If I remember right, Nytokris is up against an spriggan player called Eliza the Swift." Agil recalled. "I think it's a pretty safe bet that Nytokris is gonna win that fight."

"Why do you say that?" Nikita asked.

"Well… unfortunately there aren't really any good spells that spriggans can use in a fight." Sinon explained. "Of course I'm not saying that spriggans are weak though. Kirito here plays as a spriggan, and he's one of the strongest players in the game."

"For a minute you made me start to regret playing this game as a spriggan." Nikita admitted. "It's good to know I could still be a badass, but I am kinda bummed that I can't use any powerful magic in battle."

"Actually, there is a way you might me able to." Sinon revealed as a smirk came to her face. "I have this book called the _Necronomicon_ that I came across while exploring a dungeon, and let's just say that it has a few rituals that might be helpful to you… not to mention fun for the both of us."

"Are you talking about the kind of 'fun' that I think you're talking about?" Nikita asked with her own playful smirk.

"Yeah Sinon. Just how exactly do these rituals you're talking about work?" Silica asked with a suspicious look.

"Oh, that's really not important." Sinon told her.

"Anyway, the reason I said that it's a safe bet Nytokris will win her battle is because Eliza isn't that strong of a player." Agil explained. "The fact that she somehow made it to the semifinals is a total fluke. Nytokris should make it to the final round no problem."

"That's good." Kirito declared as he picked his head back up. "This has been what Asuna has been fighting towards this whole time."

"Yeah, but… can Asuna really win?" Silica asked.

"I know she can." Kirito answered. "She wouldn't have fought all this way for nothing. It'll probably be a close fight, but I know that Nytokris doesn't stand a chance."

* * *

Asuna watched with Lisbeth and Leafa at the crystal stadium as Nytokris fought her opponent, Eliza. The battle was over in just over five minutes, with Nytokris reducing her unfortunate opponent to a floating ball of flames. Soon after the battle concluded, Nytokris was beamed back to the stadium. The silver-haired imp shot Asuna a triumphant smirk before walking over to a corner of the room.

"Well Asuna, I guess it's up to you to take down Nytokris." Leafa observed.

"Fine with me." Asuna told her. "I've been wanting this fight ever since this tournament started."

At that moment, Lydia reappeared in the large chamber with her usual swarm of blue butterflied. "Congrats to our two winners for the semifinal round! And now everyone, the moment you've all been waiting for is finally upon us. In exactly one hour, we'll be holding the much-anticipated final round between Asuna the Berserk Healer and the mysterious Nytokris! The fight will be held in a special ring set up atop the World Tree. Those of you streaming the coverage of this tournament better stay tuned, because this is going to be one hell of an event!"

"Wow. A ring on top of the world tree." Leafa spoke as Lydia vanished from room. "I never thought that would be the location of the final round."

"No kidding. Nobody's ever been up on top of the World Tree." Lisbeth remarked. "Well, except for Asuna here, and Kirito. Of course that was in a whole different game."

"Don't remind me." Asuna told them, darkly recalling the time she had spent in Oberon's cage.

"Hey Asuna, if it's all the same to you, I think Liz and I will go meet up with my brother and watch the final round with him." Leafa decided.

"That's fine." Asuna replied. "I know you'll all be rooting for me."

"Good luck." Lisbeth told the blunette before she and Leafa left.

Once her friends were gone, Asuna accessed her item menu, and with a simple command she swapped out her normal rapier with the Valkyrie's Rose. She knew that she needed her best equipment if she was going to take down Nytokris.

"So, it looks like you finally got a chance to stele your score with me." Nytokris remarked as she walked over to Asuna. "To bad this battle will end just the same way our first one did."

"That's what you think." Asuna told her. "Before the final round of this tournament is over, I'm going to put you in your place."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I apologize if the battle in this chapter wasn't my best work. The final battle of the story is coming up, and hopefully I'll do a much better job with that one.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	20. The Final Clash

**Author's Note:** I had meant to get this chapter up way before now, but I ended up having a fairly stressful week. Hopefully this chapter will have been worth the wait, for now we begin the final battle of the Clash of Queens tournament.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Sword Art Online, nor do I own the works of H.P. Lovecraft.

* * *

Chapter 20: The Final Clash

There were only minutes left before Asuna's battle with Nytokris by the time Leafa and Lisbeth finally reached the tavern where Kirito and the others had been watching the battles. Upon entering, the duo found the place to be back to the rafters with people waiting to see the last battle. There was literally standing room only. Leafa and Lisbeth managed to push their way through the raucous hoard to find the booth where Kirito and the others were. As soon as the ladies arrived, Kirito and the others quickly made space for the two of them at the table.

"This place is totally crazy." Leafa declared.

"This crowd just flooded in about after Nytokris's last fight ended." Agil revealed. "Not surprising, since this is the best place in the game to stream the fight from."

"We didn't think you two were going to make it here on time." Sinon remarked.

"Yeah…" Leafa responded. It was then that it occurred to the blonde that there was something she had to tell Sinon. "Hey Sinon? I think there's something you should know about Nytokris. I think she might be your friend, Nakuru."

"You're Shino's friend, Suguha right?" Nikita suddenly spoke. "It's nice seeing you again. I'm the friend of hers you were just talking about."

"Uh, seriously?" a stunned Leafa responded.

"Yep." Sinon confirmed. "This is actually Nikita's first time playing a VRMMO."

"Sinon here and I actually had a run-in with that bitch, Nytokris about right after I met up with her here." Nikita added. "Her friends were pretty surprised."

Leafa bowed profusely to Nikita. "I am so sorry!"

"Don't feel bad, Leafa. We all made the same mistake." Silica told her. "I mean Nikita and Nytokris both have the same voice."

"Now that you mention it, the two of them do sound pretty alike." Lisbeth noticed. "I wonder why that is?"

"Beats me." Nikita answered.

"Say Ms. Nikita, have you ever made any recordings of your voice online?" Yui suddenly asked.

"Well… now that you mention it, I have." Nikita answered. "A couple years ago I did this series of online videos with this friend of mine. It was just this dorky fashion thing, nothing big. Why do you ask, kid?"

"It's just a theory, but I think that whoever Nytokris is must've sampled your voice from those videos to use for her avatar." Yui answered.

"Man, that bitch just keeps getting shadier and shadier." Klein remarked.

"But why pick my voice?" Nikita asked.

"That I can't answer." Yui replied. "Perhaps your voice simply had a quality to it that Nytokris's user just found appealing."

"You do have a pretty sexy voice." Sinon remarked.

"Oh really?" Nikita asked as she leaned in closer to Sinon's ear. "Just what else do you find sexy about me?"

"So anyway," Silica spoke as she shot the couple another suspicious look, "whatever the reason why Nytokris has Nikita's voice, it still doesn't answer the question of who Nytokris really is."

"Guess we may never know." Agil replied with a shrug.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that." Yui told them. "There's just something that's very familiar about Nytokris… something I just can't quite place."

* * *

Asuna was beamed down in the middle of a large circular fighting ring with marble tiles. With the large leafy branches growing out from beneath the edges of the ring, Asuna could tell that she was indeed atop the World Tree. Being back in that tree wasn't exactly being fond memories for Asuna. She couldn't help but think back to the time she had spent in Oberon's gilded cage in the original version of ALO, trapped and powerless for several months with her would-be suitor popping by every now and then to play house. Asuna pushed those horrid memories from her mind though and tried to focus on the reason she was there, which was to defeat Nytokris.

Only a few moments after Asuna's arrival, another beam of blue light came down and struck a spot a few feet away from where the blunette was standing. The light quickly faded to reveal Nytokris with a confident smirk on her face.

"I'm impressed that you actually made it this far." Nytokris remarked as she approached Asuna. "Then again, I suppose most of the opponents you've faced up to now haven't exactly been top shelf, with the exception of dear Leafa, of course. Of course your win in that battle could probably be chalked up to luck."

"Think whatever you want!" Asuna told her as she drew her sword, pointing the blade at her opponent. "Before this is done, I'm going to give you what you've got coming."

"My, my. You certainly are feisty." Nytokris remarked. "Remind me, what was it I did to tick you off?"

"You insulted the memory of someone very dear to me." Asuna answered.

"Oh that's right!" Nytokris recalled with a snap of her fingers. "You're mad because I badmouthed that hack, Zekken."

"Yuuki wasn't a hack. And I'm going to make you pay for trashing her!" Asuna declared.

"You're welcome to try." Nytokris dared as she drew her own rapier. "But this battle will just end up the very same way as our first one did."

A holographic timer appeared in the air above the two swordswomen and began to tick down to the start of the fight. When the timer hit zero, Asuna and Nytokris charged at one another and the blades of their swords struck one another with a loud clang. Asuna started to force Nytokris back, just as she did at the start of their first battle. Just like before though, the silver-haired imp was parrying each of Asuna's strikes. One again Asuna was finding it impossible to take even a sliver off of Nytokris's HP gauge.

Nytokris was soon forced back to the very edge of the ring and had no choice but to break away and head for the other side. Asuna instantly gave chase, and when they both got to the other side, their swords once again began to clash. This time around Asuna was being forced back towards the edge of the ring, just like what happened during her last battle with Nytokris; and just like before, it was taking everything Asuna had to parry Nytokris's strikes. Asuna realized that unless she did something quickly, the battle would end exactly the same way as before. She had been playing right into Nytokris's hands from the very start of the fight and she realized it.

Rather than look for an opening to attack, Asuna quickly fell back to the edge of the ring. Nytokris remained where she was smirking as Asuna attempted to catch her breath.

"So much for making me pay." Nytokris remarked. "What's the matter, honey? Realizing now that I'm out of your league?"

"As if I'd accept that." Asuna told her. "You may have had me on the run so far, but one way or another I'm still going to beat you!"

* * *

At least ten minutes had gone by as Kirito and the others continued to watch Asuna's battle at the tavern. Asuna had been able to defend herself against Nytokris's attacks, yet at the same time had not been able to land a single strike. The entire tavern was filled with the noise of excitement from the other spectators, for it was very rare for them to see such an intense battle. Kirito and his companions meanwhile were filled less with excitement and more with dread.

"This is the first time I've really seen Nytokris fight as a fencer." Kirito remarked. "I have to admit, she's pretty good. Probably one of the best sword fighters I've seen either here or in SAO."

"This fight is going exactly the same way that Asuna's first battle with Nytokris went." Suine told them. "It's gone on longer than the one from before, but just like before Asuna can't seem to land a single hit."

"It seems like Asuna's focusing more on defense." Leafa observed. "At least until she can find an opening."

"Yeah, but I don't know how long Asuna can keep that up." Kirito spoke. "If she loses focus for a single instant, it could be all over."

"There's something about this fight that just seems all wrong." Yui told them. "It's hard for me to tell from here, but Nytorkis's stats just seem a little too good. Even if she is a high level player, Nytokris's power seem more on par with that of a boss character, albeit a low-level one."

"But that shouldn't be possible." Klien spoke. "Unless…"

"Unless whoever Nytokris is hacked the system to make some kind of weird custom avatar." Agil finished.

"And that woman accused Yuuki of being a cheater." An angered Siune spoke.

"Whoa, you mean she accused Zekken of cheating?" a stunned Lurga asked. "That bitch! Zekken was one of the best players to show up in the game in a long time. No wonder Asuna hates Nytokris's guts."

"If Nytokris really does have this illegal avatar, how the heck is Asuna supposed to beat her?" Lisbeth asked.

"There has to be a way." Kirito told them. "Even if Nytokris is basically a boss character, no boss is unbeatable."

* * *

The clock for the battle was continuing to tick away, and Asuna had still been unable to find an opening in Nytokris's defenses. Eventually after Nytokris forced Asuna back to the edge of the ring, Asuna dashed off along the arena's edge and went over to the other end of the battlefield. Asuna stood catching her breath and frantically tried to figure out a way to inflict some kind of damage on her opponent. She knew that she wasn't going to get anywhere with just her sword alone. The only real option was to slow Nytokris down, and Asuna could only figure out one way to do that. Unfortunately, that way was a long shot, and Asuna wasn't sure if she was fast enough to pull it off. The other thing was that the move Asuna had in mind would probably work only once.

"Getting tired, are we?" Nytoktis spoke as she calmly walked across the field. "If it's any consolation, you lasted much longer than I expected. Still, I think it's about time we end this, don't you?"

As Nytokris came closer, Asuna began chanting an odd spell. When Nytokris came in range, Asuna finished the spell and fired a ball of blue light from her left hand. The ball of light struck the tile that Nytokris was standing on, and before the silver-haired imp could take another step, a strange black growth resembling coral grew up from the tile around her feet. In seconds, the coral grew half way up Nytokris's body, completely encasing her legs.

"What the… how the hell did you…?" a stunned and enraged Nytokris began.

Before Nytokris could finish her sentence, Asuna dashed forward and struck Nytokris five times in the chest with her rapier. Upon being hit, Nytokris let out a blood-curdling scream and her body flashed to negative colors several times. The imp woman's HP gauge also went down to almost a quarter of what it originally was.

* * *

Everyone at the tavern had seen how Nytokris's body had reacted to being stabbed by Asuna's sword. Most of the spectators were merely confused by what they had just seen, but Kirito and the others were greatly unsettled. Most of them knew that there was only one type of creature in ALO that reacted that way to being hit by a weapon like Asuna's.

A horrified Kirito slowly rose from his seat. "Yui… Nytokris is an NPC, isn't she?"

"I… I can't be sure, but I think so." Yui answered. "And… I think we've encountered this NPC before."

"I think you're right." Kirito agreed. "But… that can't be possible! We destroyed it!"

"What the hell are you guys talking about?" a confused Nikita asked. "Why's everyone so freaked out?"

"Nytokris… she isn't a real player." Leafa explained. "In fact it looks like she might be something we encountered once before."

"But… but that's impossible!" Lisbeth declared. "We killed him! So how could he be back?"

"I… I don't know." Kirito answered. "But if Nytokris really is who we think she is… Asuna is in real trouble."

* * *

Asuna backed away in horror after striking Nytokris, as there was simply no way that her opponent's body should've reacted the way it did after being hit. Asuna's rapier, the Valkyrie's Rose, was made of the same type of metal as Kirito's Master's Blade, and there was only one kind of creature that gave off that flash of negative color after taking damage from that metal; the creatures like Cthulhu and the things living down in the mound.

"The Elder Gods gave you that weapon, didn't they?" Nytokris spoke after recovering from Asuna's attack. "I should've known that even my actions wouldn't have gone unnoticed by those old fools. Ah well. I suppose it was far past time that I gave up this little charade anyway."

"Who… what are you?" Asuna asked.

Nytokris grinned. "We've met once before prior to this whole business with the tournament, though I don't blame you for not recognizing me, my dear. I am the Crawling Chaos, Nyarlathotep! And I have returned to plunge this world into madness!"

* * *

 **Author's Note:** So, did that little twist at the very end of the chapter come out of left field for anyone? I tried really hard not to tip my hand regarding Nytokris's true identity. One thing that seemed to help is that there's no instance in the Cthulhu Mythos of Nyarlathotep taking on a female avatar. Of course there was that one anime series from a few years ago that features Nyarlathotep in female form. I forget what it was called. I haven't even seen the anime in question, though from what I've read it's somewhat… "interesting". In any case, the concept of that series was more or less what inspired the Nytokris avatar.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	21. Mother of Chaos

**Author's Note:** I neglected to mention last time where I got the name for Nyarlathotep's female alter ego from this story. It's based on the name of an Ancient Egyptian queen who may or may not of existed known as Nitocris. According to legend, Nitcoris's brother, Metesouphis II was betrayed and murdered by his subjects and she became the new queen (pharaoh). To avenge her brother's death, Nitocris ordered the secret construction of a massive underground chamber that connected to the Nile through a hidden channel. When this chamber was finished, Nitocris held an inaugural banquet inside it and invited those she held responsible for her brother's death, and during the meal she ordered the channel to the Nile to be opened and drowned every single one of the guests.

Sometime afterwards, Nitocris committed suicide by throwing herself into a burning room in order to avoid retaliation from the allies of those she had drowned. Nitocris was mentioned by name in passing in a couple of H.P. Lovecraft's stories, which is mainly why I chose to use an altered version for the name for Nyarlathotep's female avatar. Some of your reading may also be interested to know that Nitocris appears as a character in the _Fate/Grand Order_ game.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Sword Art Online, nor do I own the works of H.P. Lovecraft.

* * *

Chapter 21: Mother of Chaos

Most of the people who had been watching Asuna's battle from the tavern were suddenly becoming a bit confused by what they were seeing. They had no idea why Nytokris had suddenly called herself by the name, Nyarlathotep. To many of them, the name was totally unknown. To Kirito and many of his companions though, the name was all too familiar. Nyarlathotep was the name of one of the most infamous deities from H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos, and it was the A.I. based on that deity who had taken the form of the man who had once seduced Leafa, Lisbeth and Sinon.

"I don't understand. How could Nyarlathotep still be running?" a stunned Leafa asked.

"Why the hell are you guys getting so freaked out?" Nikita asked.

"The short version is that Nytokris is actually that ex-boyfriend of mine that I told you about." Sinon explained.

"So… you're saying that same son of a bitch is playing as girl?" Nikita asked with a raised eyebrow.

"The person Sinon is talking about isn't even human." Siune explained. "It's an A.I. that's able to masquerade as a player. The first time we encountered it was when it was pretending to be a player called Donis."

"You mean that guy who started that weird Order of Yig guild a few months ago?" Lurga asked. "But wait, how could an A.I. like that even exist? I mean that'd be a pretty shady thing for the programmers to do."

"Nyarlathotep was created because of a virus that infected the game." Kirito explained. "The company behind ALO kept the whole thing secret, but that virus is what was originally responsible for creating a lot of the Cthulhu Mythos elements in the game."

"What I don't get is how Nyarlathotep could be back as Nytokris." Agil interjected.

"Yui, any ideas?" Kirito asked.

"I honestly don't know how this could be possible." Yui answered. "The Nyarlathotep A.I. is the most complex program I've ever seen. I suppose it's possible that it could've hidden itself from programs that could've been used to delete it from the system, but I don't know how it was able to do it."

"But that Azathoth virus thing was destroyed by Odin!" Lisbeth pointed out.

"True, but Nyarlathotep was a separate indipendant program the virus inadvertently created." Yui explained. "It would be entirely possible for such a program to keep running."

"But we took down Nyarlathotep ourselves!" Klein pointed out. "Sure Odin had to help us, but Nyarlathotep was wiped out."

"Then I guess he somehow re-spawned." Kirito assumed. "What I want to know though is what that thing is doing in the tournament."

* * *

"This spell with the black coral… that's not the kind of spell an undine can learn just anywhere." Nytokris remarked. "The only way you could've learned that is from the spell book of Great Cthulhu. I underestimate you, Asuna."

"How… how are you back?" Asuna asked. "My friends and I destroyed you!"

Nytokris laughed. "You did defeat me on Leng, but the power of you fairy folk isn't enough to destroy me. By the way, I hold no grudge against you for destroying Lord Azathoth. As a matter of fact, I'm glad to be rid of him. Though not having him around does make it a little harder for me to plunge this world into chaos."

"Why are you in this tournament?" Asuna asked.

"Well, as I just said, without Lord Azathoth's power I needed to come up with a new way to plunge the world into madness." Nytokris began. "I decided that the best way to do that was to breed a new race of gods, with me as the parent to them all. To do that though, I need breeding stock. So to find the strongest potential mates I entered this tournament."

Asuna was rather disgusted by the chaos deity's plan. "Okay, but you're a woman now too, right? Can't you just give birth to these gods you want to make on your own?"

"Well I can, sure." Nytokris answered. "In fact that's why I tried to seduce your darling Kirito before the start of today's matches. I'm sure his genes would've produced some very powerful gods. For the sake of efficiency though, I'd prefer to have multiple women act as the birthmothers of my children. Besides, I enjoy the act of inseminating other woman much more than the process of giving birth. Of course the process of getting impregnated myself is rather enjoyable. I don't know why I never tried taking the form of a woman millennia ago."

"If you think me or any of the other woman in this tournament are going to volunteer to give birth to your spawn, you're delusional!" Asuna declared.

Nytokris chuckled. "Don't be so sure, my dear Asuna."

With that, the silver-haired imp chanted a strange spell and the black coral that had been encasing her lower half suddenly shattered.

"By the way, I didn't actually mean any of the things I said about your dearly departed friend, Zekken." Nyokris revealed. "I just needed to get a rise out of you so that you'd come after me."

"Whether or meant it or not, that I know who you really are, I'm going to make you pay for everything you've done." Asuna declared. "That includes insulting Yuuki, and hurting Leafa and my other friends!"

Asuna and Nytokris charged at one another and began to clash swords yet again. Once again, Nytokris managed to force Asuna towards the edge of the arena. Asuna meanwhile was still finding it impossible to find any openings in Nytokris's defense, and she was fairly certain that her black coral spell wasn't going to work a second time. The blunette was pretty much out of moves.

"Just give up already Asuna and submit to me." Nytokris told her opponent as she continued to strike. "There's no shame in giving up when you know you're outmatched. Besides, I can make you experience pleasures beyond your wildest dreams; the kind of pleasures that you could never experience with that boy, Kirito."

"No way in hell!" Asuna declared as she blocked another one of Nytokris's attacks.

At that moment, Asuna used her other hand to punch Nytokris in the stomach. The silver-haired imp was caught totally off guard and knocked back a step by the attack. Asuna used that one second Nytokris was knocked off balance and struck the imp woman three times in the chest with her rapier. Nytokris screamed and flashed to negative colors as her HP went to zero.

Nytokris fell to her knees as she clutched her chest and looked up at her opponent with a mad grin. "Well done, Asuna."

Suddenly Nytokris burst into a ball of green flames that hovered in the air. The timer for the battle was then replaced by a holographic message declaring Asuna the winner. Asuna let out a sigh of relief as she sheathed her sword. A second later however, Asuna heard the sound of Nytokris's laughter from all around as the wind suddenly picked up. The ball of flames that had once been the silver-haired imp suddenly flared up to five times its original size and changed into a swirling vortex. Before she could do anything to escape, Asuna found herself being pulled into the vortex.

* * *

The holographic screens at the tavern that had been showing Asuna's battle had all gone to static as soon as Asuna had been declared the winner. Kirito and the others couldn't help but think that something had gone terribly wrong. After several more moments of static, an image of Lydia appeared on everyone's screen.

 _"Um, sorry for the technical difficulties that we seem to be experiencing with our feed."_ Lydia spoke. _"The good news though is that we were at least all able to see the final outcome of the battle. The winner of the first ever Clash of Queens Tournament and our new Queen of the Fairies is… Asuna!"_

The screen then cut to the image of some kind of green and gold throne in the middle of a large crystalline chamber with flower-covered vines growing up the walls. For at least half a minute the camera stayed on the throne, but nothing happened.

 _"Um… what's going on here?"_ Lydia's voice asked. _"Where's Asuna?"_ The screen cut back to Lydia, who had a very nervous smile on her face. _"Uh… well ladies and gentlemen, we seem to be having a little trouble bringing our star back here. It's nothing to be alarmed about though. I'm sure it's just a minor glitch. As soon as our skilled technicians get it all worked out, we'll be back to interview our new champion. For now, please stay tuned for the following messages."_

With that, the screens cut to a sort of station I.D. for the VRMMO Stream site. As soon as an ad for a new game called Labyrinth World Online began to play, Kirito shut off the hologram.

"Something's very wrong." Lisbeth declared. "Where could Asuna have gone? What's happened to her?"

"Daddy! I think Nyarlathotep may have somehow attached some sort of quest flag to the tournament!" Yui theorized. "Or at least attached one to its Nytokris avatar."

"You mean you think when Asuna defeated Nytokris, she triggered some kind of event?" Kirito realized.

Yui nodded. "My guess is that mommy was transported to some other area of the game before she could be transferred out of the arena."

"But where could she have been taken to?" a worried Siune asked.

"If this really is Nyarlathotep… Kazuto! I think I know where Asuna's been taken to!" Leafa told him. "You and Yui have to come with me, quick!"

"We'll come with to!" Klein decided.

"I'm sorry, but I can only transport one other person besides myself to the place I'm talking about." Leafa explained. "Yui can come with because she's a navigation pixie in this game, but I can't take any other players."

"Then let's go!" Kirito told her. "Asuna's probably in danger!"

* * *

When Asuna awoke, she found that she was at the top of a tall freezing mountain under a dreary cloud-covered sky that cast everything in a grey twilight. As the wind swept through the mountain range, it created an eerie musical piping noise that sent a chill down Asuna's spine, for the noise was all to familiar to her. Asuna began to look around as she got back to her feet, and a few feet away to her left was a set of four ancient stone pillars, one of which was broken at the top. The pillars were at the corners of a round pool of steaming hot water. In the very center of the pool was a stone pedestal with a square top and strange runes decorating its four sides.

Asuna instantly knew where she was upon seeing the ancient pool. She had arrived at the Plateau of Leng, the site where she and Kirito had once fought Nyarlathotep as he attempted to bring forth Azathoth to corrupt the world of ALO. Asuna immediately drew her sword, for she knew that the fact that she was back at Leng and not back at the Crystal Stadium was a very bad sign.

"I apologize for the rough ride, my dear." Nytokris's voice spoke over the wind. "I think you can agree though that this is the best place for us to be alone."

"I'm sick and tired of these games of yours!" Asuna declared. "Show yourself!"

"But of course." Nytokris responded. "I should warn you though, you'll likely be startled by my appearance."

A massive pillar of green flames suddenly shot down from the sky and struck a spot a few feet away from where Asuna was standing. After a few moments, the flames subsided to reveal Nytokris in a new form. Her upper half more or less looked the way it normally did, only her tiara had disappeared and a pair of slender black horns grew from her forehead. Her forearms had also become covered by a thick grey exoskeleton, and her hands had been replaced by a pair of large grey pincers like those of a scorpion. The imp woman's lower half meanwhile had become like that of an insect, with four long grey legs and a large abdomen covered by a black exoskeleton. A red cursor appeared above the creature's head, along with five HP gauges. Right above the red cursor was the name, "Nyarlathotep the Chaos Mother."

"This is the true form of the avatar you know as Nytokris." Nyarlathotep revealed. "Of course I use the form you're familiar with to seduce men, as many of them wouldn't find this form appealing, but it's in this form that I give birth to my children. It's also the form I use to impregnate other women."

"And just how do you do that?" Asuna asked, not that she really wanted to know the answer.

Suddenly four green slimy tentacles burst out of Nyarlathotep's back. "I don't think I need to tell you what's hidden in the tips of these little appendages. Of course if you prefer, I can use my Donis avatar to impregnate you. I'm sure you'd find it more appealing, since that form looks so much like your darling Kirito."

"There's no way in hell I'd ever let you touch me in any form!" Asuna declared.

"If you're really that against our union, then all you have to do is defeat me and I'll let you go." Nyarlathotep told her. "Of course if I defeat you, you'll have little choice but to submit to me."

Just then a pillar of greenish-yellow light came down from the sky and struck a spot just behind Asuna. The light soon faded to reveal Kirito, Yui and Leafa.

"You get the hell away from her, you monster!" Kirito ordered as he drew Excalibur and the Master's Blade.

"Am I glad to see you!" Asuna declared.

"How the hell did you get up here?" Nyarlathotep asked. "Leng should be out of your reach!"

Leafa held up her arm to display an odd bracelet with an odd yellow crystal fitted into it. "You remember this, Donis? This is the teleport bracelet I received when we first came here to Leng together. With this, I was able to bring Kazuto and myself here to help Asuna take you out."

Nyarlathotep smirked. "You really are full of surprises, dear Leafa. Well, this actually works out even better for me. Both you and Kirito would also make excellent breeding stock to create my new race of gods."

"What's it talking about?" Kirito asked.

"Basically, it wants to knock me up with its child." Asuna explained. "The reason Nyarlathotep entered this tournament in the first place was so it could find some potential mothers."

"Could… could he really knock anyone up in this game?" a disgusted Leafa asked.

"I don't know, and I definitely don't want to find out." Asuna answered. "If we want to avoid that, then we have to take Nyarlathotep down right here and now."

"You can all struggle all you want, but it will do you no good!" Nyarlathotep declared. "The age of madness will soon begin, and you will be the ones to help bring it forth!"

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Sorry of this story has suddenly gotten a bit "out there". I knew that this part would be weird no matter what way I did it.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	22. Queen of the Fairies

**Author's Note:** Well, it took me a lot longer than I thought, but we've finally come to the last chapter of this story. I hope that everyone enjoys the show that's to come.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Sword Art Online, nor do I own the works of H.P. Lovecraft.

* * *

Chapter 22: Queen of the Fairies

"You know it would be much more pleasant for all of you if you would just give in." Nyarlathotep told Asuna and the others. "The four of us could create some very powerful offspring together. With my power and your strength, they would likely become the strongest gods of this world."

"To think I was ever in love with that thing." A disgusted Leafa remarked.

"Let's just take it down so we can get out of here." Kirito told the others.

Suddenly Nyarlathotep breathed out a stream of green flames from her mouth down at the trio. Asuna quickly chanted a spell and created a blue bubble-like barrier around herself, Kirito and Leafa. The barrier popped as soon as Nyarlathotep's attack ended.

"Know any other spells like that from that book you won from Cthulhu?" Leafa asked.

"That one and that spell with the coral are the only ones I've had time to learn so far, and I haven't exactly mastered either one yet." Asuna answered.

"The only way out of this is for us to charge in and attack that thing." Kirito told Asuna. "Sugu, you hang back and heal us when we need it. Asuna and I are the only ones with weapons that can do significant damage to Nyarlathotep."

"You can count on me." Leafa told them.

With that, Asuna and Kirito charged towards the giant insect woman. As the duo came close, Nyarlathotep attempted to strike Asuna with one of her claws. The blunette turned to the side of the attack and continued to charge in. When she finally got close enough, Asuna struck Nyarlathotep's front right leg, while Kirito began to hack away with both swords at the left. Nyarlathotep screamed as her body flashed to negative colors. Unfortunately, her first HP gauge went down by about fifteen percent.

After those first few attacks, Nyarlathotep merely kicked Kirito and Asuna away from her. Upon hitting the ground, Asuna and Kirito both lost close to half their HP. As the couple got to their feet, Leafa quickly cast a healing spell on them both and restored their HP to almost a hundred percent.

"That one attack really did a number on us." Asuna remarked. "I'm not sure if just the three of us alone can beat this thing."

"In the last battle with Nyarlathotep, Odin had boosted your HP and MP to give you more of an edge." Yui added. "With out that advantage, the likelihood of defeating a boss of this level is very low."

"Yeah, but it's not like we have a choice." Kirito pointed out.

"It really doesn't have to be like this, you know." Nyarlathotep told the trio. "If you'd all just give into me, I can make this a very pleasurable experience for all of us."

"Get this through that twisted head of yours, none of use are interested!" Kirito declared.

"Are you sure Kirito? I could take the form of any woman you like." Nyarlathotep told him. Suddenly her head transformed to look like Asuna's. "I could become something familiar to you." Her head then morphed again to look like Leafa's. "Or I could become a forbidden fantasy that you've always secretly desired."

In response, Kirito used his wings to fly up and cut off Nyarlathotep's head using his swords like a pair of scissors. The insect woman's head shattered into blue polygons before hitting the ground. Despite taking such a lethal blow though, Nyarlathotep's first HP gauge only went down to just over half its original amount. In seconds, Nyarlathotep's original Nytokris head grew back from the stump of her neck.

Nyarlathotep sighed. "Oh well. I guess we'll just have to do things the hard way."

With that, Nyarlathotep breathed out another stream of green flames, forcing Kirito to fly to the side of the attack to avoid it. The flames kept on going towards Asuna and Leafa, but at the last moment Asuna erected another barrier and blocked the attack. Kirito then resumed his attack and began cutting into Nyarlathotep's chest with his two blades. Meanwhile, Asuna took to the air and went around behind the insect woman to attack her from the back while Kirito kept her busy from the front. During her assault, Asuna had to evade the flailing tendrils on Nyarlathotep's back but managed to make several hits. After several more minutes, Asuna and Kirito got Nyarlathotep's first HP gauge to drop to zero. Soon after though, Nyarlathotep managed to grab Kirito with one of her claws while snaring Asuna with her tentacles and hurled them both away into the ground towards Leafa.

As Asuna and Kirito got back to their feet, Nyarlatotep let out a horrid shriek that echoed through the air and forced the trio of fairies to cover their ears. Right after the wretched noise ended, several green fireballs burst to life in front of Kirito and the others and became an emerald inferno that blocked Nyarlathotep from view. When the fire finally died away, standing before the trio was a small army of creatures that was too horrible to describe in great detail. They were humanoid – or at least mostly so – with dark-grey skin that seemed almost scaly. The larger creatures, which appeared to be male, were all incredibly tall and muscular with potbellies. Their faces consisted of large mouths with flat yellow teeth and one to six round yellow insect-like eyes. Many of these more masculine creatures wore pieces of black armor along with tattered pieces of black cloth around their waist, and the weapons they wielded ranged from large two-sides axes to long jagged swords.

The more feminine-looking creatures meanwhile were much smaller and wore off-white stone masks resembling the faces of beautiful-looking women. The parts of their heads that showed were totally bald, and some of the things had one or even two extra arms. They were clothed and armored like their larger male counterparts and carried up to two to four sabers depending on the number of arms they had. As soon as the small army of abominations appeared, two to three HP gauges appeared next to each of their heads.

"What… what the hell are these things?" a horrified Leafa asked.

"These are some of the children I've already given birth to." Nyarlathotep explained. "They matured quite fast. Unfortunately the poor darlings aren't very bright and have only a fraction of the power I hoped that they would, but they still make a powerful army."

"And you're saying you gave birth to all of these things?" a disgusted Asuna asked.

"Why yes. All of these children are the product of the little 'after party' I held after the raid against Shub-Niggurath." Nyarlathotep revealed. "It's a pity you didn't join in on that fun, dear Leafa."

"So… all of these things are…" Leafa began as she started to turn very pale. "Are the children of all those players?"

"Indeed they are. And there are many more where these fine specimens came from." Nyarlathotep revealed. She then pointed a claw at the black ring resembling a goat-headed serpent that was still adorning her upper right arm. "Remember this little drop item that I received after defeating Shub-Niggurath, Leafa? It's actually a little fertility charm that's extremely powerful. With its help, I've been able to produce triple the number of children that I would have been able to on my own."

"Leafa, just what happened during this little 'after party' that thing is talking about?" Asuna asked.

"Trust me, you do not want to know." Leafa answered. "All I'll say is that I left before it was over."

"Well Yui? What do you think?" Kirito asked.

"I don't know how these monsters were created, but they're definitely NPCs." Yui answered. "The trouble is that their stats are incredibly high, enough to match the power of a monster from the final ten levels of SAO."

"Seriously? We can't take on this many monsters like that on our own!" Asuna exclaimed.

"And on top of that, we've still got a long way to go to beat Nyarlathotep." Kirito added. "This battle just keep getting worse and worse for us."

"I'm sorry that it's had to come to this, but you brought this upon yourselves." Nyarlathotep told them. "Attack them, my children! Subdue them so that I may have my way these three and bring forth the new age of chaos that we shall usher in!"

The hoard of abominations began to charge towards Asuna and the others. In moments, Asuna took off into the air and began to stab her rapier at one of the larger male creatures. Though the entity was stunned, his first HP gauge had gone down to only a quarter. The muscular giant then took a swing at Asuna with his axe, but the blunette managed to dodge the attack. Meanwhile on the ground, Kirito had become locked in battle with one of the four-armed female spawn of Nyarlathotep. It was taking everything Kirito had to parry all four of the creature's swords, and while he was defending himself another one of the masked horrors came over and slashed him across the back. The sneak attack had caused the black swordsman's HP to go down to just below half its original amount.

Nyarlathotep began to laugh. "Struggle all you like, but it will do you no good! In the end you will have no choice but to submit to me!"

Suddenly a crash of thunder echoed over the mountains, causing Nyarlathotep's spawn to stop and look up. Suddenly a gigantic gold hammer came down from above and struck Nyarlathotep in the chest, taking a small chunk off her second HP gauge. A giant bolt of lightning came down and struck the area a few feet behind where Leafa was standing. Standing in that spot when the light faded was a rugged muscular giant resembling a man in his forties. He had long golden-brown hair and a beard, and hanging from his back was a golden-yellow cape. The giant outstretched his right arm and the hammer that had struck Nyarlathotep flew into his hand.

"Thor!" Kirito identified. "What's he doing here?"

"You have no place here, Elder God!" Nyarlathotep told Thor. "How dare you intrude in my domain?"

"The Allfather sent me here to help slay you, wretched intruder!" Thor responded. "Did you really think that your actions would go unnoticed?"

"The reign of your kind is soon to come to an end!" Nyarlathotep declared. "My children and I will lay waste to your kingdom!"

"That will never happen, foul one!" Thor told her. "Noble fairies, please allow me to join you in your battle. Together we can slay this loathsome creature once and for all!"

Suddenly a holographic screen appeared before Kirito with a request from Thor to join his party. Kirito didn't hesitate for a moment to hit the accept button. Soon after, Thor raised his hammer into the air and fired a bolt of gold lightning into the sky. The HP and MP gauges of Kirito, Asuna and Leafa then increased beyond their normal limits.

"Even with Thor helping us, how are we supposed to take on all these monsters?" Leafa asked.

"Do not despair, little fairy. I came here with aide!" Thor revealed.

Thor slammed his hammer into the ground, causing the sound of thunder to ring through the sky once more. Suddenly several white lights flew down from the twilight sky above and turned into an army of Valkyries armed with swords and shields. The army was twice the size of Nyarlathotep's army of spawn.

"Let the Valkyries handle the invader's demon children." Thor told Kirito and Asuna. "We shall deal with the invader itself."

With that, the army of Valkyries charged in and began to do battle with Nyarlathotep's spawn. A few of the Valkyries hung back with Leafa to help with her healing duties. Meanwhile, Thor charged at Nyarlathotep from the front and began to bash her with his hammer while Kirito and Asuna attacked the insect woman from the sides. Early in the battle Nyarlathotep breathed out a stream of flames that managed to strike Thor in the shoulder, taking off some of his HP. Thor quickly recovered though and continued his assault.

The battle continued on for several more minutes. The Valkyries managed to take out most of Nyarlathotep's spawn, but the insect woman had called forth a few replacement troops. Meanwhile, Kirito and Asuna had managed to do some major damage to Nyarlathotep due to her focusing most of her attacks on Thor. The god of thunder had taken quite a bit of damage, but Nyarlathotep had been reduced to her last HP gauge thanks to Kirito and Asuna's efforts.

"You're putting up more of a fight than I thought, Elder God." Nyarlathotep remarked. "But your efforts will do no good. In the end, I will still triumph."

"You truly are quite arrogant, invader." Thor responded after striking her in the gut with his hammer. "Your demon spawn have mostly been slain, and your own wounds will soon prove fatal. This battle belongs to us!"

Nyarlathotep chuckled. "How short-sighted you are. Even if you do defeat me, it is inevitable that this world will be swallowed by madness. As it is, my comrades the Old Ones all lie sleeping throughout this world. Even if by some miracle you manage to destroy me, eventually the Old Ones will awaken and bring forth the very same era of madness that I seek to begin."

"Even if these comrades of yours do awaken, my brethren and I will to put an end to them as well!" Thor declared. "This era of madness you seek to create will never be!"

Thor slammed his hammer in Nyarlathotep's chest again, taking another chunk off of her HP. At the same time, Kirito and Asuna continued their assault from the sides, being very careful not to get kicked by the insect woman's powerful legs. The battle raged on for at least another half an hour. During that time, the army of Valkyries had taken out much of Nyarlathotep's horrid spawn, though they had taken quite a few casualties as well. Meanwhile, Nyarlathotep's HP had finally fallen into the red zone, though Thor's HP had also fallen into the red as well. It seemed like neither god could really afford to take any more hits.

"You should've stayed out of this, Elder God." Nyarlathotep told Thor. "You would've lived just a bit longer that way. Because you interfered where you didn't belong, you shall be the first if your fellow gods to die!"

"Even if I parish here today, my brethren will keep on fighting until you are finished once and for all!" Thor declared. "Until then, I shall keep fighting until my last breath!"

Thor then slammed his hammer into the side of Nyarlathotep's head, knocking her off balance and taking off a little bit more of her HP. Nyarlathotep quickly recovered though and breathed out a stream of flames that hit the god of thunder in the chest, reducing his HP to a red sliver. Just as the insect woman was about to deliver the finishing blow with one of her claws, Asuna flew in and struck Nyarlathotep in the chest six times. Nyarlathotep screamed, as her HP became only a red sliver.

"Thanks for your help Thor, but this is still my fight." Asuna told the thunder deity. "I'm going to finish it."

"You ungrateful little imp." Nyarlathotep cursed. "You should feel honored that I chose you to become the mother of one of my children, but instead you continue to defy me!"

"You're a monster who shouldn't even exist in this world, and I'm going to finish you right now!" Asuna declared.

Just as Nyarlathotep was about to launch a counterattack, Asuna hit the wicked god with a Mother's Rosario attack the chest. Nyarlathotep's HP went to zero and she screamed before her body shattered into blue polygons. Soon after, the insect woman's remaining spawn suddenly shattered into blue polygons as well.

Kirito breathed a sigh of relief. "Guess those monsters still needed Nyarlathotep to exist."

"This was still a boss battle." Yui pointed out. "And like all boss battles, the mobs vanish when the boss controlling them is defeated."

Just as Asuna and the others were about to sheath their weapons, a green mist formed in the spot where Nyarlathotep had been standing. In seconds the mist took the form of a sylph player who greatly resembled Kirito, only he had long blonde hair, emerald eyes, and wore green armor. The Kirito lookalike was breathing heavily and clutching his chest.

"Donis!" a surprised Leafa identified.

"You may have defeated my Chaos Mother avatar… but I am far from done." The Kirito lookalike spoke in an English accent. "One way or another, I will plunge this world into madness."

"This has gone far enough!" a booming voice suddenly declared.

A massive beam of golden light then shot down from the sky and the twilight sky became covered by a glorious aurora. When the light cleared, Odin was standing before the group holding his spear. As soon as the bearded giant arrived, Thor and all of the remaining Valkyries fell to one knee.

"So another Elder God has decided to intrude." Donis observed. "When are you going to realize that your struggles are pointless?"

"Not pointless against me. Remember that I was the one who did away with that thing you called a father." Odin reminded him. "Now I have come to finish the job with you. Prepare yourself!"

Odin aimed the palm of his left hand down at Donis and fired a beam of gold light down at him. When the light cleared, the false Kirito was bound in glistening white chains. As Donis struggled to break free, Odin threw his spear at him. The moment the head of Odin's giant spear struck its target, there was an explosion of green light and a horrible chorus of voices making a noise that sounded like a scream of agony. The sound finally died away after a few seconds, and when the light cleared Odin's spear was sticking out of a patch of scorched earth. The bearded god walked over and pulled his spear out of the ground.

"Young fairies, I thank you for your help with unmasking the Crawling Chaos." Odin told Asuna and the others.

"Is this why you gave me the Valkyrie's Rose?" Asuna asked. "You knew this was going to happen?"

"It was one of many possible futures I foresaw, though I was not certain that this would be the true outcome." Odin answered. "Even with my ability to see the future, I was uncertain if the warrior you clashed with was indeed the mask that the Crawling Chaos was using. His powers of disguise were even greater than that of Loki. It is thanks to you that we were able to draw him out and destroy him once and for all."

"So you're saying Nyarlathotep really won't come back?" Kirito asked.

"Even if some part of him did survive, he has been forever banished from this world." Odin assured him. "His madness will never plague us again."

"We are grateful for your help, noble fairies." Thor added. "If it weren't for you, I may have very well perished in that battle."

"And now I shall send you all home." Odin decided. "I believe one of you has just won a great contest that's been going on for the last few days. It would be unfair of me to keep you from receiving the honors you've earned."

With that, Odin waved his spear and Asuna and the others became surrounded by a golden light. In moments the four felt themselves being lifted up into the air and beamed to another location. When the light finally faded, Asuna and the others arrived in the crystalline throne room that Kirito and Leafa had seen over the stream at the tavern. A few feet in front of them, the group saw what appeared to be some sort of camera crew.

"What… where are we?" Asuna asked as she looked around.

"This was where you were supposed to have ended up after winning the tournament." Kirito explained.

"There you are!" an angry Lydia spoke as she suddenly stormed over to where Asuna was standing. "Where the hell have you been? Do you know how much of an idiot you've made me look by not showing up? I have an image to protect, you know!"

"Ms. Lydia? We're on in five." A member of the camera crew spoke.

"Oh, never mind!" Lydia spoke as she grabbed Asuna's arm and dragged her over to the throne. "Just sit your ass down and try not to make me look any more foolish."

After a bewildered Asuna sat in the crystal throne, Lydia sat down in a small glass chair that had been placed to the right of it and put on her best smile. A member of the crew counted down to zero and a red light on the camera in the room came on.

"And we're back! We're terribly sorry for the delay." Lydia spoke to the camera. "With me now is the winner of ALO's first ever Clash of Queens tournament, Asuna. So Asuna, how does it feel to be our first ever champion?"

"Well…" Asuna began. "Now that it's all done, it feels pretty good. It was a long and difficult road getting here, but I knew I could do it."

"Terrific. Well, I'm afraid we're about out of time because of our little technical delay, so I'm just going to skip the rest of my interview and get to why we're here." Lydia continued. She then accessed her menu and a small tan scroll appeared in her hands. "For defeating every other warrior who stood against, I hereby declare Asuna the Berserk Healer to be our first Queen of the Fairies!"

With that, a golden crown resembling a wreath of flowers appeared atop Asuna's head with a blue flash, and bouquet of flowers appeared in her arms. Asuna then heard the recording of a cheering crowd start to play. Shrugging, Asuna smiled and waved at the camera.

* * *

Right after Asuna's coronation as the tournament champion, Kirito had contacted his government contact, Kikuoka Seijiro and told him about Nyarlathotep's return. Kikuoka had immediately launched an investigation into the matter to make sure the wicked NPC had truly been deleted, and that no actual harm had come to any of the players who had been in intimate contact with Nyarlathotep in-game. Meanwhile, Asuna had gotten a little bit more than she had bargained for after being crowned Queen of the Fairies. She had wound up doing a few interviews with reporters from the more popular VRMMO magazines, which she didn't mind all that much. What Asuna did mind though were the photo shoots for those magazines that she had gotten roped into doing in the game for those articles. Much of the photos were all quite tasteful, though a few of them involved outfits were a bit risqué by Asuna's standards. The photo that was most popular was the one of Asuna's ALO avatar wearing a golden bikini styled to look as though it were made out of leafs, along with her new crown.

A week and a half had gone by since the end of the tournament, and Asuna along with Kirito had decided to put together another raid against Cthulhu. The High Priest of the Old Ones had since re-spawned, and Kirito was quite interested in trying his strength against Cthulhu. All of the members of the original raiding party agreed to help the couple, along with Nikita, Lurga and a few others. When the day of the raid arrived, Kirito and Asuna arrived with Yui at the little inn where the main members of the team had agreed to meet. The trio arrived about an hour before the agreed meeting time to find Leafa waiting in the lobby.

"Hey guys." Leafa greeted as she came over.

"Looks like we're not the only ones who decided to come early." Kirito observed.

"Are we the only ones here?" Asuna asked.

"Actually I saw Sinon and Nikita when I got here, but they checked in and went back to one of the rooms before I could say hi to them." Leafa revealed.

"Maybe we should go find them and let them know we're here." Kirito suggested.

"Do you remember the last time we went back to one of the inn rooms that our friends were staying in?" Asuna asked, recalling the time they walked in on Klein and Siune.

"Oh come on, this is just Sinon and her friend. It's not like that sort of thing would happen with them." Kirito pointed out.

"Good point." Asuna admitted. "Okay, we'll let them know we're here."

"I'll wait out here in case any of the others show up." Leafa told them.

With that, Asuna and Kirito headed down the hall to Sinon and Nikita's room. As they traveled down the corridor, they passed a few people who instantly recognized Asuna and asked for her autograph.

"If I had known I was going to get this kind of attention for winning the tournament, I probably would've stayed out of it." Asuna remarked.

"Yeah, but if you hadn't, who knows what Nyarlathotep would've done." Kirito pointed out. "Besides, you couldn't just let what that thing said about Yuuki pass."

"I know. At least all these new fans of mine aren't as bad as those photos I had to do." Asuna responded.

"Those photos were great." Kirito told her. "I especially like the one with you in that gold bikini."

Asuna smirked. "You know maybe after this raid, we can go back to the cabin and I can show that outfit off for you."

Kirito blushed upon hearing this. "Can you wear the crown too?"

"Depends on how well you do during the raid." Asuna playfully answered.

Within a few more moments, Kirito and Asuna reached the room with Yui. Rather than knock, Kirito simply opened. What the couple and Yui saw within the room was Sinon and Nikita making out on the bed. Both girls were only down to their bras and panties and Sinon was on top. The jaws of Asuna and Kirito dropped open as their faces turned bright red at the sight, while Yui simply cocked her head in confusion.

When the two ladies in the room finally broke for air, Sinon looked up and noticed the other couple standing in the doorway and gawking. "Um, do you guys mind?"

"We're sorry!" Asuna frantically responded before slamming the door shut.

"Okay… I did not see that coming." Kirito spoke.

"From now on whenever we meet at one of these inns before a quest, we are _not_ going back to any of their rooms!" Asuna declared.

"Good idea." Kirito agreed. "Let's just go back to the lobby."

"On the bright side, at least Ms. Sinon seems to have gotten over her relationship with Donis." Yui remarked.

Within moments, the three arrived back in the lobby and found Leafa sitting in a chair and reading something from her menu screen.

"Where are Nikita and Sinon?" Leafa asked.

"They're um… busy." Kirito answered as he and Asuna sat down on a purple couch that was right across from Leafa's chair.

"Okay." Leafa replied with a raised eyebrow. "By the way, I just got PMs from Liz and Silica. They should be here in a few minutes."

"Good. Hopefully this battle against Cthulhu will be a little smoother than the last one." Asuna responded.

"It certainly won't be as intense as our fight with Nyarlathotep a few weeks ago." Leafa remarked. "That form it took still freaks me out. Could that thing really impregnate other players like it claimed to?"

"I'm not even sure how that would've worked." Asuna spoke. "Of course I'm glad that I'll never really know."

"Kikuoka did manage to contact most of the players who he thinks all got it on with Nytokris." Kirito revealed. "Of course he didn't really tell me much about what happened to them, but it seemed like they weren't really damaged psychologically. Then again, a lot of those players were ones who are kind of on the edge of being banned from the game for inappropriate behavior. They were probably a little warped to begin with."

"Still, if some of those women players actually did end up giving birth to monsters in this game… I can't imagine what that must've been like." Leafa remarked with a bit of a shudder.

"Well, it's all over now." Kirito assured them. "The programmers did a thorough scan of all the game's servers and didn't find a trace of Nyarlathotep's program. Odin's attack must've completely purged it from the system."

"But are they really sure Nyarlathotep has been deleted?" Asuna asked. "I mean we all made that mistake before."

"True, but this time Nyarlathotep was eliminated by Odin and not an attack from a player." Yui pointed out. "If Odin really is an incarnation of the Cardinal System or at least it's security program, then he would have the power to delete an unauthorized NPC like Nyarlathotep."

"But if Odin really is a security program of some kind, how come he didn't detect and delete Nyarlathotep much earlier?" Leafa asked.

"I suspect that Nyarlathotep's program had some kind of ability to camouflage itself from detection." Yui theorized.

"So Odin decided to use me to try and draw Nyarlathotep so he could finally delete him." Asuna realized.

"Well, the important thing is that Nyarlathotep is finally gone." Kirito pointed out. "Now that he is, things in ALO should be pretty peaceful from now on."

* * *

Within another hour, the rest of the main raiding party arrived at the in and Sinon and Nikita had finally emerged from their room. With everyone assembled, the team headed off towards Innsmouth. Several minutes later they arrived at the distorted stone city of R'lyeh.

"Boy, you weren't kidding about how twisted this place is." Kirito remarked the team walked through the dead metropolis towards Cthulhu's door.

"Yo Nikita, you sure you're up for this battle?" Agil asked the spriggan woman. "This battle might be a little much for a rookie player like you."

"I think I'll manage." Nikita answered. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous, but Sinon helped me relax a bit while we were at the inn."

"And just how did Sinon help you relax?" Silica asked with a suspicious look.

"Hey, I'm not to proud to admit that I'm a little nervous about this fight too." Lurga admitted. "From what I've heard, Cthulhu is supposed to be one of the strongest of the Great Old Ones."

"I helped fight the thing once before, and what you've heard is pretty much true." Lisbeth confirmed. "It took out everyone in our party except for Asuna."

"I'd like to know where the heck our backup for this fight is." Klein spoke. "If it's just us going against this thing, we'll get creamed like we did before."

"I'm sure they'll be here soon." Siune assured him. "Asuna did tell them that the raid was today, right Asuna?"

"Hello there!" a familiar voice called from above. Asuna and the others looked up to see Sakuya hovering in the air along with Alicia Rue and an army of sylph and cait sithe players. "Sorry we're a tab late. Hope you weren't planning to start without us."

"Not at all. You're right on time." Asuna told them.

Sakuya and Alicia joined Asuna and Kirito's team on the ground while their troops remained airborne. Within a few more moments, the massive raiding party reached the massive doors to Cthulhu's chamber. When they arrived, the doors swung open and Cthulhu rose out of his putrid abyss with a horrid cry.

"Oh wow! That thing is uglier than I was expecting." Nikita declared.

"Don't worry. I've got you covered." Sinon assured her.

Kirito meanwhile looked up at Cthulhu and smirked as he drew his swords. "You ready Asuna?"

"With you, always?" Asuna replied as she drew her own sword.

With that, Kirito and Asuna charged headlong towards Cthulhu with most of the others following close behind. A long and epic battle was about to begin.

FIN

* * *

 **Afterward:** I hope this final chapter was a satisfying ending for everyone. This story ended up taking me much longer to finish than I thought. These past couple of months I've been going through a lot of adjustments with a new job, so that's kind of been an obstacle with my writing. I'm glad that this story is finally finished, though I did have some fun writing it. I hope everyone reading enjoyed this story as well.

Please review and let me know what you think.


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